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ENTRY TYPE:
WORK TITLE: Glass
WORK NOTES:
PSEUDONYM(S):
BIRTHDATE:
WEBSITE: https://www.kathrynlasky.com/
CITY: Camebridge
STATE:
COUNTRY: United States
NATIONALITY: American
LAST VOLUME: SATA 210
RESEARCHER NOTES:
PERSONAL
Born June 24, 1944, in Indianapolis, IN; daughter of Marven (a wine bottler) and Hortense (a social worker) Lasky; married Christopher G. Knight (a photographer and filmmaker), May 30, 1971; children: Maxwell, Meribah.
EDUCATION:University of Michigan, B.A., 1966; Wheelock College, M.A., 1977.
ADDRESS
CAREER
Writer.
AVOCATIONS:Sailing, skiing, hiking, reading, movies.
AWARDS:Boston Globe/Horn Book Award, 1981, for The Weaver’s Gift; Notable Books designation, American Library Association (ALA), 1981, for The Night Journey and The Weaver’s Gift; National Jewish Book Award, Jewish Welfare Board Book Council, and Sydney Taylor Book Award, Association of Jewish Libraries, both 1982, both for The Night Journey; Notable Book designation, New York Times, and Best Books for Young Adults designation, ALA, both 1983, both for Beyond the Divide; Newbery Honor Book, and Notable Books designation, both ALA, both 1984, and both for Sugaring Time; Best Books for Young Adults designation, ALA, 1984, for Prank; Notable Books designation, ALA, 1985, for Puppeteer; Best Books for Young Adults designation, ALA, 1986, for Pageant; Washington Post/Children’s Book Guild Nonfiction Award, 1986, for body of work; “Youth-to-Youth Books” citation, Pratt Library’s Young Adult Advisory Board, 1988, for The Bone Wars; Golden Trilobite Award, Paleontological Society, 1990, for Traces of Life: The Origins of Humankind; Parenting Reading Magic Award, 1990, for Dinosaur Dig; Edgar Allan Poe Award nominee for Best Juvenile Mystery, 1992, for Double Trouble Squared; Orbis Pictus award for Outstanding Nonfiction for Children nomination, National Council of Teachers of English, 1992, Notable Books designation, ALA, 1993, and Notable Children’s Book in Language Arts, National Council of Teachers of English/Children’s Literature Assembly, all for Surtsey: The Newest Place on Earth; Sequoyah Young Adult Book Award, 1994, for Beyond the Burning Time; Notable Children’s Book selection, Library of Congress, for The Librarian Who Measured the Earth; Notable Social Studies Trade Book for Young People, National Council for the Social Studies/Children’s Book Council (NSCC/CBC), for A Journey to the New World: The Diary of Remember Patience Whipple, Mayflower, 1620; National Jewish Book Award and Notable Books designation, ALA, both 1997, both for Marven of the Great North Woods; Notable Social Studies Trade Book for Young People, NCSS/CBC, 1997, and Young Adult Choice selection, International Reading Association, both for True North; John Burroughs Award for Outstanding Nature Book for Children, and Editor’s Choice designation, Cricket magazine, both 1998, both for The Most Beautiful Roof in the World: Exploring the Rainforest Canopy; Notable Social Studies Trade Book for Young People, NCSS/CBC, for Dreams in the Golden Country: The Diary of Zipporah Feldman, a Jewish Immigrant Girl; Western Heritage Award, National Cowboy Hall of Fame, and Edgar Award nominee, both 1999, both for Alice Rose and Sam; Notable Social Studies Trade Book for Young People, NCSS/CBC, for Elizabeth I, Red Rose of the House of Tudor; Notable Social Studies Trade Book for Young People, NCSS/CBC, for Marie Antoinette, Princess of Versailles; Notable Social Studies Trade Book for Young People, NCSS/CBC, for Christmas after All: The Great Depression Diary of Minnie Swift; Lupine Award honor book, 2005, Teachers’ Choices Award winner, International Reading Association, 2006, and Notable Children’s Book of Jewish Content selection, Association of Jewish Libraries, 2006, all for Broken Song; John Burroughs Award for Outstanding Nature Book for Children, and Orbis Pictus Honor Book designation for Outstanding Nonfiction for Children, National Council of Teachers of English, both for John Muir; recipient of several child-selected awards.
RELIGION: Jewish.WRITINGS
Contributor to periodicals, including Horn Book, New York Times Book Review, and Sail.
An animated feature film, Guardians of Ga’Hoole, based on the first three books of Lasky’s series, was released by Warner Bros., 2010, with screenplay by John Orloff and John Collee, directed by Zack Snyder. A Journey to the New World: The Diary of Remember Patience Whipple, Mayflower, 1620, Dreams in the Golden Country: The Diary of Zipporah Feldman, a Jewish Immigrant Girl, and Elizabeth I, Red Rose of the House of Tudor were adapted for video. Several of Lasky’s works, including Sugaring Time, have been adapted as audiobooks.
SIDELIGHTS
Called “a remarkably versatile writer” by Booklist reviewer Ilene Cooper, Kathryn Lasky is an American author of fiction, nonfiction, and picture books who is noted for her success in several genres. A prolific writer, Lasky is the creator of contemporary fiction, historical fiction, informational books, and picture books that incorporate both fiction and nonfiction elements. Asked to describe the inspiration for her more than one hundred works, Lasky remarked on her home page, “It’s as mysterious to me as it is to all of you. I did read someplace that some famous writer (I forget who) said that a writer is not necessarily the smartest person in the room but the most observant. So I think I am just a good observer, and perhaps I see things and wonder about them in odd ways; and this means sometimes making up stories about them.”
Lasky has received praise for exploring topics not often covered in books for the young and for explaining them in an accessible, enjoyable manner. Some critics have also complimented her character development—both in her fiction and nonfiction—and her narrative skill, noting that she provides young readers with strong storylines, even in her informational books. They have described her language as clear and concise, with vivid imagery that has sometimes been called poetic. As Cooper remarked, “Few authors are as eloquent as Lasky.” In an essay in Twentieth-Century Young Adult Writers, Linda Garrett commented that Lasky “has made and continues to make an impact on young-adult literature. Her well-researched books provide a thorough, accurate picture of whatever theme is being presented. Her use of lyrical language captures the moods as well as facts leaving the reader with [in Lasky’s words] ‘a sense of joy—indeed celebration’ of the world in which they live.” Carol Hurst of Carol Hurst’s Children’s Literature Newsletter added: “I’m always impressed when an author can move from one genre to another with competence, but Kathy Lasky does so with such ease and skill that I am more than impressed, I’m awed.”
Lasky was a storyteller from an early age and felt destined to become an author. Despite her love of stories, however, she was labeled a reluctant reader. In fact, she simply did not care for the books that were part of her school curriculum, instead preferring works such as Peter Pan and The Wonderful Wizard of Oz. Lasky first realized that she could pursue a literary career when she was about ten years old. “Mom was the one who told me to be a writer,” Lasky stated on her home page. “She said ‘Kathy, you love words. And you have such a great imagination. You should be a writer.’ My mom always thought I was the best, even when teachers didn’t. She thought I was smart when teachers didn’t.”
Lasky attended a private all-girls school in Indianapolis, which she felt did not particularly suit her; later, she drew on her experiences in the autobiographical novel Pageant, a humorous coming-of-age story about Sarah Benjamin, a Jewish teenager in a Christian girls’ school who learns what she really wants from life. After finishing high school, Lasky attended the University of Michigan as an English major; after receiving her degree, she became a teacher and began writing seriously in her spare time. In 1971, she married Christopher Knight, whose youthful experiences kayaking and camping with his father and grandfather form the basis for Lasky’s novel Jem’s Island.
In 1975, Lasky published her first book for children, the colorful concept book Agatha’s Alphabet. The first of several books to be illustrated by her husband, I Have Four Names for My Grandfather also introduces one of the author’s major themes: intergenerational bonding. Barbara S. Wertheimer, a contributor to Children’s Book Review Service, noted “the sensitivity and depth of feeling within the text,” while Andd Ward wrote in School Library Journal that the strength of I Have Four Names for My Grandfather “lies in the compatibility of the text with the abundant photographs.”
Lasky’s first work to win a major award was The Weaver’s Gift, a photo essay that won the Boston Globe/Horn Book Award for juvenile nonfiction in 1982. In this book, Lasky and Knight spotlight weaver Carolyn Frye, a Vermont woman who raises sheep and converts their wool to finished products; the author and photographer document Frye’s hard work and artistry while demonstrating how sheared wool becomes a child’s blanket. Writing in Interracial Books for Children, Jan M. Goodman related that The Weaver’s Gift “is a rare find,” adding that the text is “extremely well-written and factual and shows deep appreciation and respect for a woman and her trade.” A critic for Kirkus Reviews noted that while “there have been other juvenile introductions to this basic sequence, … they are dull or feeble in comparison.”
In 1981, Lasky published The Night Journey, a young-adult novel that is highly respected as a work of Jewish literature. Based on a true story, the novel outlines how a nine-year-old girl orchestrates her family’s escape from religious persecution in czarist Russia. The girl grows up to become Nana Sachie, great-grandmother to thirteen-year-old Rachel, who learns this piece of family history during their afternoons together; Sachie finishes the tale, which is filled with excitement, shortly before her death. Calling The Night Journey “a story to cherish,” Cooper noted in Booklist that it “has so many aspects that each person will come away with his own idea of what makes the book memorable.” Peter Kennerley concluded in a review for School Librarian: “I believe this to be a satisfying novel, if not without blemish, and I recommend it strongly.”
More than twenty years later, Lasky published a companion volume to The Night Journey, titled Broken Song. The work concerns fifteen-year-old Reuven Bloom, a talented violist who lives in the Pale, an area in Russia that is reserved for Jews. When the Cossacks slaughter his family and friends, Reuven flees to Poland, where he works as a spy for a revolutionary group. School Library Journal contributor Renee Steinberg praised Lasky’s narrative in Broken Song , citing its “rich prose filled with imagery, distinct characterization, and historical research.” A critic for Kirkus Reviews described Reuven as “a relatable and admirable protagonist.”
Sugaring Time, a photo essay also illustrated by Knight, was named a Newbery honor book in 1984. The volume outlines the activities of the Lacey family during the month of March, the period they call “sugaring time,” on their Vermont farm. Lasky and Knight portray the hard work—and the pleasure—involved in turning maple sugar into maple syrup while providing young readers with a sense of the seasons and the value of the earth. Alice Naylor, a contributor to Language Arts, called Lasky’s text “a model of good exposition,” while Martha T. Kane wrote in Appraisal that “you can almost hear the crunch of snow beneath the horses’ feet, the sweet maple sap dripping into the buckets, and the roar of the fire in the sugarhouse. … Lasky involves all the reader’s senses in her memorable description of the collection and processing of maple sap in a small sugarbush in Vermont.”
One of Lasky’s most critically acclaimed novels for young adults is Beyond the Divide. Set in the mid-1800s, the story outlines the journey of fourteen-year-old Meribah Simon, an Amish girl who travels with her father from Pennsylvania to California by wagon train during the Gold Rush. Meribah’s trek to California is an ordeal: her father dies after one of his wounds becomes infected; a friend is raped and commits suicide; and Meribah, now left alone, struggles to survive in the wilderness. Rescued by a group of Yahi Indians, Meribah learns to understand them and to appreciate their lifestyle; at the end of the novel, she decides to go back to a fertile valley she had seen from the wagon train and make a life for herself.
Calling Beyond the Divide an “elegantly written tour de force,” Cooper commented that Lasky has written a “quintessential pioneer story, a piece so textured and rich that readers will remember it long after they’ve put it down.” Dick Abrahamson, reviewing the novel for the English Journal, called Beyond the Divide “one of the finest historical novels I’ve read in a long time. It certainly ought to be considered for the Newbery Award.” Writing in Language Arts, M. Jean Greenlaw concluded that the major strength of the book is that it “is a magnificent story. The westward movement is an integral part of American history and nature, and this book is the most gripping account of that time I have ever read,” In Twentieth-Century Children’s Writers, Linda Garrett added that the novel “is so realistic it would be easy to believe that Beyond the Divide is directly from a diary of a young girl going West.”
Lasky’s Traces of Life: The Origins of Humankind is an informational book that outlines the history of evolution. In this work, the author, who has had a longtime interest in paleontology, attempts to determine the moment at which humanity as we know it began to exist. She discusses evolution and the science of paleoanthropology while presenting biographical information about several notable scientists. Voice of Youth Advocates contributor Shirley A. Bathgate said that Lasky “combines research and creativity in yet another excellent book,” then concluded that “Younger young-adult readers will find the book both easy and fun to read.”
One of Lasky’s most well-received picture-book biographies is Marven of the Great North Woods, a vignette from her father’s childhood. As a ten-year-old, Marven Lasky was sent to a logging camp in the Minnesota north woods to avoid the influenza epidemic that hit his hometown of Duluth in 1918. At first, Marven finds this new world to be foreign—for example, there was no kosher food at the camp—but he adjusts to his situation and forms warm friendships with the lumberjacks, especially Jean Louis, a French Canadian who is the biggest man in the camp. Calling Marven of the Great North Woods a story of “courage inspired by familial affection and the unexpected kindness of strangers,” a Publishers Weekly critic predicted: “Thanks to Lasky’s considerable command of language and narrative detail, readers will linger over” the descriptions in the book. Roger Sutton, writing in Horn Book, called the work “both invigorating and cozy” and noted that the text, while long for a picture book, is “fully eventful.” In her newsletter, Carol Hurst concluded that Lasky “makes the extraordinary adventure possible and [Kevin Hawkes’s] paintings combine with her writing to show wonder and tenderness.” Marven of the Great North Woods won the National Jewish Book Award in 1997.
Lasky has a particular fascination with American author Samuel Langhorne Clemens, who wrote as Mark Twain: the subject of the picture book biography A Brilliant Streak: The Making of Mark Twain, Clemens also appears as a major character in Alice Rose and Sam, a story for middle graders. In A Brilliant Streak, Lasky recounts Clemens’ life until he takes on his famous pseudonym at age thirty. The author details Clemens’ Missouri childhood and his experiences as a steamboat pilot, prospector, and reporter as well as a humorist and social commentator; in addition, Lasky provides a sense of how Clemens’ life and personality are reflected in his works. This work won several critical compliments. Booklist reviewer Stephanie Zvirin predicted that after reading A Brilliant Streak, “Children will definitely want to find out more about Clemens,” while a contributor to Kirkus Reviews concluded that Clemens’ “successes are the source of one colorful anecdote after another, which Lasky taps and twirls into an engaging narrative that glimmers with its own brand of brilliance.”
Set in Virginia City, Nevada, during the 1860s, Alice Rose and Sam describes how twelve-year-old Alice Rose, a newspaperman’s daughter, joins forces with reporter Samuel Clemens to solve a murder and expose a plot by a group of Confederate vigilantes called the Society of Seven. Lasky’s fictional treatment of Clemens received praise from some reviewers as well. “Ultimately,” noted Jennifer A. Fakolt in School Library Journal, Alice Rose and Clemens “end up teaching one another valuable lessons about life and truth.” Calling the book an “open-throttled page-turner,” a critic for Kirkus Reviews observed that fans of Karen Cushman’s The Ballad of Lucy Whipple and Kathleen Karr’s Oh, Those Harper Girls! “have a plucky new heroine to admire,” while a reviewer for Publishers Weekly called Alice Rose and Sam a “view of American history teeming with adventure and local color.” Alice Rose and Sam won the Western Heritage Award and was nominated for an Edgar Allan Poe award in 1999.
Another historical figure featured in one of Lasky’s books is John Harrison, whose story is told in The Man Who Made Time Travel. When the English Parliament offered a multi-million dollar reward in 1707 for anyone who could accurately measure longitude in a way that would aid in sea navigation, Harrison devoted more than three decades of his life to solving the problem. A Publishers Weekly reviewer found that “Lasky gets off to a bumpy start,” but when the story begins to focus on Harrison, the author’s “prose becomes clear and compelling.” Booklist commentator Carolyn Phelan remarked that “the text makes absorbing reading both for its sidelights on history and for the personal drama portrayal.” Some critics noted that the illustrations by Kevin Hawkes add to the book’s appeal. In School Library Journal, Dona Ratterree wrote that because of Hawkes’s artwork, the book’s “clear science, and its compelling social commentary, this title is not to be missed.” In another biographical work, John Muir: America’s First Environmentalist, the author looks at the nineteenth-century naturalist and environmental activist who helped found the Sierra Club. Using Muir’s own diary entries, Lasky traces his life from his boyhood in Scotland to his explorations in Florida, Alaska, and California. The author “not only outlines the course of his life, but eloquently conveys his motivation,” remarked a Kirkus Reviews contributor.
Vision of Beauty: The Story of Sarah Breedlove Walker profiles America’s first self-made female African-American millionaire. Walker made her fortune in the hair-care products industry and was a civil-rights pioneer. In Black Issues Book Review, Merce Robinson and Kelly Ellis praised the book for its inspiring portrayal of Walker. The noted that Lasky demonstrates that Walker’s vision was not “beauty for its sake alone, but that the tools of beauty could be used by black women to inspire self-confidence.” Booklist critic Marta Segal deemed Vision of Beauty “engaging,” noting that “Walker’s feminism and work for civil rights are described in terms that will make sense to young readers.” In A Voice of Her Own: The Story of Phillis Wheatley, Slave Poet, Lasky examines the life of the first African American woman poet. Born in West Africa, Wheatley was brought to the colonies at the age of seven. Taught to read and write by the wife of her owner, Wheatley gained fame for her collection, Poems on Various Subjects, Religious and Moral, published in England in 1773. “The story is remarkable, important and moving,” Nicolette Jones wrote in the London Sunday Times.
(open new)Isaac Newton is the focus of the 2017 volume, Newton’s Rainbow: The Revolutionary Discoveries of a Young Scientist. The book follows Newton as a struggles in school but finds joy in learning about the natural world. Later, Newton learns to harness that interest to invent important things and develop key concepts that change the course of human history. A contributor to Kirkus Reviews suggested that the book “may inspire readers to share Newton’s interest in the world around them.” Anita Lock, writer in Booklist, described the volume as a “genial biography.”
Silk & Venom: Searching for a Dangerous Spider finds Lasky, working with her photographer husband, Knight, presenting Greta Binford, an archeologist. Binford studies Loxosceles spiders at her lab at Lewis and Clark College. Reader of the book see the lab, learn about Binford’s interest in spiders, and travel with her to the Dominican Republic on a research trip. Carolyn Phelan, reviewer in Booklist, described the volume as “intriguing.”(close new—more below)
Returning to fiction, Lasky created a series character with Lucille, a piglet who struggles with everyday challenges common to younger readers. Lasky adds humor to the “Lucille” books to keep the tone light and accessible. In Lucille Camps In, Lucille is left at home while her father and siblings go on a camping trip, so she decides to camp in her living room. Gillian Engberg, writing in Booklist, described the book as “an endearing, realistic story in short sentences and simple language a new reader can handle.” In School Library Journal, Martha Topol observed that the “family dynamics are great—supportive while allowing for individuality.” In Lucille’s Snowsuit, the pig is delighted that school is canceled because of snow, but then she has difficulty getting into her snowsuit so she can go out and play. Todd Morning remarked in Booklist that “the best pages in the book focus on Lucille’s struggles to put on her suit.”
Regarded by critics as endearing and touching, Lasky’s Mommy’s Hands —coauthored with Jane Kamine—is told by three toddlers who describe why they love their mommy’s hands. The story relates the many things mothers do with their hands that amaze and comfort their children. Maryann H. Owen praised the book for its “affectionate tribute to every mother whose gentle touch has helped to mold her child.” Similarly, in Booklist, GraceAnne A. DeCandido of called the book a “tender and affectionate series of tête-a-têtes.” A Kirkus Reviews critic commented that the authors approach the story with a “gentle give-and-take,” concluding, “Reading this cozy tale is rather like being enveloped by a mother’s warm embrace.”
Lasky’s “Guardians of Ga’Hoole” fantasy series is about a community of owls in a world that is fictional but is based partly on facts about owls. The first installment, The Capture, tells the story of a baby owl, Soren, who is knocked out of his nest too soon. When he is scooped up by another owl and taken to an orphanage, Soren soon realizes that he is in a military training camp where the captives are being brainwashed. Francisca Goldsmith, writing in Booklist noted that Lasky’s owlish world inspires “big questions about human social psychology and politics along with real owl science.” In Kliatt, Erin Lukens Darr praised the educational value of the novel, as Lasky uses “a combination of scientific and creative vocabulary,” adding that The Capture, “would be a good language arts complement to the study of owls.” Later volumes, including The Hatchling, To Be a King, and The River of Wind, follow the continuing adventures of Soren, his allies Nyroc and Coren, and their deadly rivals, the Pure Ones. The multi-volume series is augmented with a companion compendium, A Guide Book to the Great Tree.
(open new) The Rise of a Legend is an installment in the “Guardians of Ga’Hoole” series, which was released a few years after its previous volume. In an interview with Deborah Kalb on the Book Q&As with Deborah Kalb website, Lasky was asked how she developed the idea for the book. Lasky answered: “Someone else came up with it—a fan of mine who has been writing me since he was 10, and he’s 15 now. About a year and a half or two years ago, he wrote and asked, Are you sure you’ll never write another owl book? Write one about the great old sage of the tree, Ezylryb—what was he like as a kid? The book is dedicated to him—Evan Weaver.” As a young owl, Ezylryb is known as Lyze and is raised to be a soldier by his tough parents. Initially, Lyze is less than enthusiastic about participating in battles, but the death of his sister inspires him to rethink his relationship to war. Lyze develops innovative strategies and becomes a respected warrior. A Kirkus Reviews critic described the book as “both thoughtful and action-packed.”(close new—more below)
In The Last Girls of Pompeii a critically acclaimed work of historical fiction set in B.C.E. 79, Lasky explores ancient Roman society. The novel centers on twelve-year-old Julia, the youngest daughter of the Petreius family, and her slave, Sura. An outcast because of her deformed arm, Julia learns that she will be banished to a temple, and she prepares to flee the city with Sura just as Vesuvius erupts. According to School Library Journal contributor Barbara Scotto, the author “effectively uses subtle indications of the impending eruption to increase the suspense and keep readers on the edge of their seats,” and a critic for Kirkus Reviews described The Last Girls of Pompeii as “an intelligent, ruminative work for thoughtful readers.”
Lasky’s young-adult novel Blood Secret concerns Jerry Luna, a high-school freshman who has remained silent since her mother disappeared several years earlier. When Jerry moves in with her great-great-aunt, Constanza de Luna, she discovers a trunk containing mysterious heirlooms that lead the teen to a startling discovery about her family’s history. In the work, Lasky addresses “the legacy of persecution, the power of silence, and the deep mysteries of what’s passed between generations,” remarked Engberg. In a lighter work for young readers, Tumble Bunnies, an anxious rabbit named Clyde discovers that it has a gift for acrobatics. “Lasky puts her finger on the day-to-day concerns of her target audience,” Joy Fleishhacker stated in a School Library Journal of Tumble Bunnies.
Illustrated by Matthew Trueman, Lasky’s nonfiction work One Beetle Too Many: The Extraordinary Adventures of Charles Darwin traces Darwin’s life from his childhood and school days to his voyage on the Beagle, and also details how he became interested in science and eventually formulated his theory of evolution. She addresses religious controversies over evolution by quoting Darwin on both his doubts about some tenets of Christianity and his reverence for God as nature’s creator. She also includes humorous anecdotes about Darwin’s aversion to some of the more disgusting aspects of the natural world. One Beetle Too Many received praise from School Library Journal contributor Ellen Heath, who remarked that Lasky offers “a clear view” of Darwin, “a man troubled by the implications of his observations.” Lasky’s text is “well-organized” and Trueman’s illustrations “exuberant,” Heath added. Although a Kirkus Reviews critic faulted the book’s “confusingly disjointed” story line, a Publishers Weekly contributorconcluded that Lasky’s “light, conversational prose” in One Beetle Too Many makes complicated ideas accessible and provides “a just-right introduction to Charles Darwin.”
(open new)Set in Germany in the years leading up to WWII, Ashes tells the story of a blonde teenage Jewish girl, who passes as Aryan. She witnesses historical events and endures personal indignities as Hitler takes over her country and other parts of Europe. Hazel Rochman, contributor to Booklist, commented: “The personal and the political history will haunt readers.” Similarly, Horn Book writer, Joanna Rudge Long, suggested: “Lasky interweaves the personal and political with skill.”
The Extra is also set during WWII, but it focuses on the Nazis’ persecution of Romani people, inspired by the true story of Anna Blach. It protagonist is Lilo, a Romani girl who is taken to a concentration camp, along with her family. Lilo catches a lucky break when she is tapped to be an extra in a film by Leni Riefenstahl. On the set, she and other Romani people fight to survive the difficult conditions but also experience kindness. A writer in Kirkus Reviews remarked: “The touching story of survival carries readers over the occasional infelicities.” “Lasky’s accessible style balances the grim realities of a Nazi camp with a girl’s enduring will to survive,” suggested Marla Unruh in Voice of Youth Advocates.
In Night Witches, another WWII story, Tatyana, a young Russian flier, joins a team of female fighter pilots called the Night Witches. Her teenage younger sister, Valya, wants to join, too, certain that she could succeed in battle. Finally, Valya is able to join the team. In another interview on the Book Q&As with Deborah Kalb website, Lasky explained: “The characters were definitely fictional creations in terms of their names, backgrounds, personal history. Fictional creations but informed by a lot of research.” A Kirkus Reviews writer described the book as “a fast-paced slice of history for younger teens.” “The daring young women are all dynamically well rounded,” suggested Sarah Hunter in Booklist.
Faceless stars a family of British spies, which includes thirteen-year-old Alice. During WWII, Alice travels to Berlin with her mother and father, going undercover to infiltrate the Nazi regime. Comparing this volume with others she wrote about WWII, Lasky told a contributor to the Book Q&As with Deborah Kalb website: “Faceless departs from some of the other books because it has a slightly fantastical element. I was also always interested in spies. So I wanted to have this fourth book focus on spies and spy craft. The notion of a young person as a spy really intrigued me.” A Publishers Weekly writer asserted: “With a well-detailed historical backdrop and a puzzling familial mystery, this novel delivers intrigue via tense scenes.” A critic in Kirkus Reviews described the book as “fascinating and riveting, especially for history buffs and spy aficionados.”
In a volume set in contemporary times rather than the WWII era, an eleven-year-old girl named Ryder fights to save her dead mother’s creation in More Than Magic. Ryder’s mom was a cartoonist who created a cartoon series starring a kid named Rory, who lives in a world called Ecalpon. Rory is based on Ryder. When Ryder’s dad’s new girlfriend, Bernice, wants to change the story for a film adaptation, Ryder and her friends work together to save the integrity of the original series. In an interview with a contributor to the Book Q&As with Deborah Kalb website, Lasky discussed the themes of the book, stating: “There is a subtext in this book that evolved and sort of caught me by surprise and if the readers get it I hope it will not just enhance their enjoyment of the book but keep them thinking about it. The subtext is really about what is real and what is not; those borders between reality and virtual reality and what happens when they brush up against one another.” A critic in Kirkus Reviews asserted: “Both the concept and the well-paced suspense will appeal.”
A Jewish boy and a Navajo boy become unlikely friends in Yossel’s Journey. Yossel and his family face persecution in Russia, so they flee to the U.S., settling in Santa Fe, where they take over Yossel’s uncle’s trading post there. A quiet boy, Yossel does not open up to anyone until he meets a Navajo boy named Thomas. A Kirkus Reviews writer described the volume as “a charming picture book that blends two rarely combined cultures.” “Lines by Lasky … balance the feel of wide-open spaces and family comforts,” commented a contributor to Publishers Weekly.
Glass is a retelling of the classic Cinderella story. Set in England, it finds teenage Bess Wickham navigating her own interest in the natural world as she deals with expectations that she join her family’s famous glassmaking empire. When she learns a dark secret about her family’s glassmaking process, she determines to resist. A Publishers Weekly writer described the book as “fanciful and well constructed.” A contributor to Kirkus Reviews called it “inventive, with intriguing heroines and despicable villains.”
In addition to the “Guardians of Ga’Hoole” series, Lasky has written other series, including “Daughters of the Sea,” “Bears of the Ice,” and “Secrets of Glendunny.” In the “Daughters of the Sea” series, which begins with Daughters of the Sea: Hannah, Lasky focuses on teenage girls navigating life around the turn of the twentieth century. The titular star of the first volume, Hannah, is a scullery maid, who clashes with her employer’s eldest daughter and who becomes intrigued by a mysterious artist who paints sea creatures. It is revealed that Hannah is a mermaid. A Kirkus Reviews critic described the book as “a good bet for upper middle-grade and early YA readers.” May, another volume in the series, begins in 1883, when a lighthouse keeper named Edgar finds a baby floating in the sea after a shipwreck. Edgar and his wife, Hepzibah, raise the baby as their own and call her May. As she grows older May learns more about her past, falls in love, and discovers that she is a mermaid. “Lasky’s novel will appeal to teens who enjoy a light fantasy mixed with romance,” asserted Hilary Crew in Voice of Youth Advocates.
The “Bears of the Ice” series, set in the land of the “Guardians of Ga’Hoole” series, begins with The Quest of the Cubs, which tells the story of Jytte and Stellan, two polar bear siblings. The bears’ mother, Svenna, is forced to leave them when they are one year old. After enduring poor treatment from relatives, Jytte and Stellan leave to find their parents, dodging a bad group of bears called the Roguers along the way. “Lasky’s authentic frozen setting and dynamic animal characters will capture readers’ imaginations,” suggested J.B. Petty in Booklist. A writer in Kirkus Reviews commented: “Nature, magic, and legend combine to create a world like no other.” Jytte and Stellan are joined by another sibling, known as Third, in The Den of Forever Frost. As they journey to find their mother, Svenna makes a plan to escape. A contributor to Kirkus Reviews suggested that the book was “proof that a sequel can shine just as brightly.” “Lasky’s brilliant imagery of the fantasy ice world and her believably strong, determined bears won’t disappoint readers,” remarked Petty in Booklist.
“Secrets of Glendunny” series includes the books, The Haunting and The Searchers. It focuses on a community of beavers at Glendunny, who have been living in secret, in hopes of evading extinction. A Kirkus Reviews critic called the series “magical, exciting, and deeply moving.” Another reviewer in the same publication suggested that it “draws readers deeply into a mystical world and leaves them wishing for more.”(close new)
According to numerous observers, over her career, Lasky has proven herself capable of producing intelligent, entertaining works in a variety of genres. In an article for Horn Book, the author related: “I can’t stand doing the same thing twice. I don’t want to change just for the sake of change. But the whole point of being an artist is to be able to get up every morning and reinvent the world.” She also noted in an interview on the Harcourt Books Web site, “I guess what I like most about writing children’s books is that I just feel that I can explore not only the world out there but a lot of hidden parts of myself as well. I have always been a person with a very active interior life. I don’t need a lot of people around. I don’t need to be in groups or go out a lot. I think I am a dedicated explorer of the interior states of not just myself but others.”
BIOCRIT
BOOKS
Twentieth-Century Young-Adult Writers, edited by Laura Standley Berger, Gale (Detroit, MI), 1994.
PERIODICALS
Appraisal, winter, 1984, Martha T. Kane, review of Sugaring Time, pp. 34-35.
Audubon, January-February, 2007, Julie Leibach, review of John Muir: America’s First Environmentalist, pp. 83.
Black Issues Book Review, November, 2000, Merce Robinson and Kelly Ellis, review of Vision of Beauty: The Story of Sarah Breedlove Walker, p. 80.
Booklist, July, 1983, Ilene Cooper, review of Beyond the Divide, p. 1402; November 15, 1982, Ilene Cooper, review of Jem’s Island, p. 446; January 15, 1986, Ilene Cooper, review of Home Free, pp. 758-759; November 15, 1981, Ilene Cooper, review of The Night Journey, pp. 439-440; April, 1998, Stephanie Zvirin, review of A Brilliant Streak: The Making of Mark Twain, p. 1317; August 21, 2000, Marta Segal, review of Vision of Beauty, p. 2032; September 15, 2000, Todd Morning, review of Lucille’s Snowsuit, p. 249; June 1, 2002, GraceAnne A. DeCandido, review of Mommy’s Hands, pp. 1740-1741; March 1, 2003, Carolyn Phelan, review of The Man Who Made Time Travel, p. 1196; July, 2003, Gillian Engberg, review of Lucille Camps In, p. 1897; September 15, 2003, Francisca Goldsmith, review of The Capture, p. 240; October 1, 2004, Carolyn Phelan, review of Humphrey, Albert, and the Flying Machine, p. 335, and Gillian Engberg, review of Blood Secret, p. 340; January 1, 2005, Hazel Rochman, review of Broken Song, p. 859; December 1, 2005, Carolyn Phelan, review of Dancing through Fire, p. 49; February 1, 2006, Hazel Rochman, review of John Muir, p. 46; July 1, 2006, Gillian Engberg, review of Pirate Bob, p. 65; April 15, 2007, Hazel Rochman, review of The Last Girls of Pompeii, p. 50; July 1, 2009, Ian Chipman, review of Two Bad Pilgrims, p. 61; December 1, 2009, Daniel Kraus, review of Lone Wolf, p. 45; January 1, 2010, Hazel Rochman, review of Ashes, p. 80; February 15, 2011, Carolyn Phelan, review of Silk & Venom: Searching for a Dangerous Spider, p. 66; February 1, 2017, Anita Lock, review of Newton’s Rainbow: The Revolutionary Discoveries of a Young Scientist, p. 33; February 1, 2017, Sarah Hunter, review of Night Witches, p. 48; November 1, 2017, J.B. Petty, review of The Quest of the Cubs, p. 58; October 15, 2018, J.B. Petty, review of The Den of Forever Frost, p. 53; July, 2024, Susan Maguire, review of Mortal Radiance, p. 30.
Bulletin of the Center for Children’s Books, November, 1993, Betsy Hearne, review of Monarchs, pp. 88-89.
Carol Hurst’s Children’s Literature Newsletter, winter, 1999, “Featured Author: Kathryn Lasky,” p. 4.
Children’s Book Review Service, November, 1976, Barbara S. Wertheimer, review of I Have Four Names for My Grandfather, p. 22.
English Journal, January, 1984, Dick Abrahamson,“To Start the New Year off Right,” pp. 87-89.
Five Owls, February, 1995, Anne Landis, review of The Librarian Who Measured the Earth, pp. 61-62.
Horn Book, June, 1983, Karen Jameyson, review of Sugaring Time, p. 323; September-October, 1985, Kathryn Lasky, “Reflections on Nonfiction,” pp. 527-532; November-December, 1991, Kathryn Lasky, “Creativity in a Boom Industry,” pp. 705-711; November-December, 1997, Roger Sutton, review of Marven of the Great North Woods, p. 670; March-April, 2005, Peter D. Sieruta, review of Broken Song, p. 204; May-June, 2006, Betty Carter, review of John Muir, p. 346; March-April, 2010, Joanna Rudge Long, review of Ashes, p. 62; July-August, 2010, Betty Carter, review of Chasing Orion, p. 113; March-April, 2011, Danielle J. Ford, review of Silk & Venom, p. 140.
Interracial Books for Children Bulletin, Volume 12, numbers 4-5, 1981, Jan M. Goodman, review of The Weaver’s Gift, p. 38.
Kirkus Reviews, March 1, 1981, review of The Weaver’s Gift, p. 286; March 1, 1998, review of Alice Rose and Sam, p. 341; April 1, 1998, review of A Brilliant Streak, p. 497; March 15, 2002, review of Mommy’s Hands, pp. 416-417; July 15, 2004, review of Blood Secret, p. 689; February 1, 2005, review of Broken Song, p. 178; March 15, 2005, review of Tumble Bunnies, p. 354; February 1, 2006, review of John Muir, p. 133; April 1, 2007, review of The Last Girls of Pompeii; December 15, 2008, review of One Beetle Too Many: The Extraordinary Adventures of Charles Darwin; May 15, 2009, review of Georgia Rises; June 15, 2009, review of Poodle and Hound; August 15, 2009, review of “Daughters of the Sea” series; June 1, 2013, review of The Rise of a Legend; September 1, 2013, review of The Extra; June 1, 2016, review of More Than Magic; January 15, 2017, review of Newton’s Rainbow; January 15, 2017, review of Night Witches; November 15, 2017, review of The Quest of the Cubs; August 15, 2018, review of The Den of Forever Frost; November 15, 2018, review of The Portal; October 15, 2020, review of She Caught the Light; September 15, 2021, review of Faceless; January 15, 2022, review of The Secret of Glendunny;July 15, 2022, review of Yossel’s Journey; April 1, 2023, review of The Secret of Glendunny; June 15, 2024, review of Glass; June 1, 2024, review of Mortal Radiance.
Kliatt, September, 2003, Erin Lukens Darr, review of The Capture, p. 26; July, 2004, Claire Rosser, review of Blood Secret, p. 8; May, 2007, Claire Rosser, review of The Last Girls of Pompeii, p. 15.
Language Arts, January, 1984, M. Jean Greenlaw, review of Beyond the Divide, pp. 70-71; September, 1984, Alice Naylor, review of Sugaring Time, p. 543.
Publishers Weekly, October 6, 1997, review of Marven of the Great North Woods, p. 83; February 16, 1998, review of Alice Rose and Sam, p. 212; August 21, 2000, review of Lucille’s Snowsuit, p. 73; March 17, 2003, review of The Man Who Made Time Travel, p. 77; July 7, 2003, review of The Capture, p. 72; March 1, 2004, review of Love That Baby! A Book about Babies for New Brothers, Sisters, Cousins, and Friends, p. 71; November 1, 2004, review of Humphrey, Albert, and the Flying Machine, p. 64; April 24, 2006, review of Born to Rule, p. 61; December 15, 2008, review of One Beetle Too Many, p. 53; May 10, 2010, review of Felix Takes the Stage, p. 44; September 6, 2021, review of Faceless, p . 91; August 8, 2022, review of Yossel’s Journey, p. 60; May 20, 2024, review of Glass, p. 67.
Quill & Quire, October, 1994, Joanne Schott, “The One Who …,” p. 46.
School Librarian, June, 1983, Peter Kennerley, review of The Night Journey, p. 144.
School Library Journal, November, 1976, Andd Ward, review of I Have Four Names for My Grandfather, p. 48; September, 1993, Susan Oliver, review of Monarchs, p. 244; May, 1998, Jennifer A. Fakolt, review of Alice Rose and Sam, p. 145; July, 2002, Maryann H. Owen, review of Mommy’s Hands, p. 94; April, 2003, Dona Ratterree, review of The Man Who Made Time Travel, p. 184; July, 2003, Martha Topol, review of Lucille Camps In, p. 100; February, 2004, Krista Tokarz, review of Home at Last: Sophia’s Immigrant Diary, Book Two, p. 116; May, 2004, Tim Wadham, review of The Journey, p. 152; August, 2004, Sharon Morrison, review of Blood Secret, p. 124; October, 2004, Grace Oliff, review of Humphrey, Albert, and the Flying Machine, p. 120; March, 2005, Renee Steinberg, review of Broken Song, p. 214; April, 2005, Joy Fleishhacker, review of Tumble Bunnies, p. 105; June, 2005, Nancy A. Gifford, review of Kazunomiya: Prisoner of Heaven, p. 161; October, 2005, Patricia Manning, review of The Most Beautiful Roof in the World: Exploring the Rainforest Canopy, p. 64; November, 2005, Christina Stenson-Carey, review of Dancing through Fire, p. 138; January, 2006, Walter Minkel, review of The Hatchling, p. 136; April, 2006, Margaret Bush, review of John Muir, p. 127; May, 2006, Alison Grant, review of Born to Rule, p. 92; July, 2006, Kara Schaff Dean, review of Pirate Bob, p. 82; August, 2007, Barbara Scotto, review of The Last Girls of Pompeii, p. 118; January, 2009, Ellen Heath, review of One Beetle Too Many, p. 127.
Sunday Times (London, England), April 13, 2003, Nicolette Jones, review of A Voice of Her Own: The Story of Phillis Wheatley, Slave Poet, p. 32.
Voice of Youth Advocates, June, 1990, Shirley A. Bathgate, review of Traces of Life: The Origins of Humankind, pp. 126-127; June, 2011, Hilary Crew, review of “Daugthers of the Sea” series, 188.
ONLINE
Book Q&As with Deborah Kalb, https://deborahkalbbooks.blogspot.com/ (September 3, 2013), Deborah Kalb, author interview; (November 11, 2016), author interview; (August 23, 2017), author interview; (October 19, 2021), author interview.
CrimeReads, https://crimereads.com/ (September 8, 2022), article by author; (July 3, 2024), article by author.
Harcourt Books website, http://www.harcourtbooks.com/ (June 19, 2009), interview with Lasky.
Kathryn Lasky website, https://www.kathrynlasky.com (December 20, 2024).
Literary Hub, https://lithub.com/ (October 16, 2020), author interview.
Scholastic website, http://www.scholastic.com/ (June 19, 2009), “Kathryn Lasky.”
Teen Ink, https://www.teenink.com/ (January 26, 2017), author interview.
WickedLocal.com, https://www.wickedlocal.com/ (October 26, 2020), Ross Cristantiello, author interview.
WordMothers—For Women Writers & Women’s Writing, https://wordmothers.com/ (January 6, 2015), Nicole Melanson, author interview.
Biography
Kathryn Lasky is the author of over one hundred books for children and young adults, including the Guardians of Ga’Hoole series, which has more than eight million copies in print, and was turned into a major motion picture, Legend of the Guardians: The Owls of Ga’Hoole. Her books have received numerous awards including a Newbery Honor, a Boston Globe-Horn Book Award, and a Washington Post-Children’s Book Guild Nonfiction Award. She has twice won the National Jewish Book award. Her work has been translated into 19 languages worldwide. She lives with her husband in Cambridge, MA.
My Story
I was born on the prairie—but not in a little house. It was a big house where I grew up, with a three car garage, a sprinkling system and a driveway great for roller skating. It was actually the suburbs of Indianapolis, Indiana. But Indiana is a prairie state and it is very flat. So it still counts. Besides it sounds better to say I was born on the prairie than I was born in the suburbs. Although hills are rare on the prairie, we had one. It was great for sledding. At the bottom there was a pond. In the summer I played pirates with my sister Martha and best friend Carole.
This is me and my mom. My mom was extraordinarily beautiful and very brainy. Some people thought she looked like Greta Garbo, an old movie star. Mom was the one who told me to be a writer. She said “Kathy, you love words. And you have such a great imagination. You should be a writer.” My mom always thought I was the best, even when teachers didn't. She thought I was smart when teachers didn't. She would say in parent teacher conferences, when they told her I wasn't listening or paying attention, “Kathy is thinking of other things. She is very creative. Let her be.”
My dad was extraordinary too. He lived to be ninety-one years old. He never graduated from high school but somehow got into law school. He never practiced law but then started his own business and was hugely successful. He is the original self made man. He was a super athlete. He was born in Minnesota. His parents had fled Russia at the time of the Tsar and he was the first baby born to his parents in this country. He was, I think, the first Jewish baby born in Duluth, Minnesota. He said a lot of the neighbors came in to see him because they had never seen a Jewish baby. They thought maybe he had a tail or something.
About being Jewish. I am. When I was growing up there were not that many Jews out there on the prairie and there were definitely no bagels. Bagels came late to Indiana. But there was a synagogue and Sunday school. I hated Sunday school. I dropped out. It was not about God. I had a problem with the rabbi and I guess he had one with me. He thought I was a discipline problem. I was embarrassed to tell my mom and dad, so instead I told them I was an atheist. It sounded better than being a discipline problem. I waited until dinner to announce this. I was very excited. “I am not going to Sunday school anymore. I am an atheist!” Everyone kept on eating and then Mom looked up and said “and you think God cares!” Then everyone broke up laughing, even me. My mom had a very weird sense of humor. Some people didn't get it, but we all got it. I guess that was why we were really a family.
My sister Martha is five years older. I worshipped her. She was very smart and musically gifted. She spoke French so well she went to a French camp in the summer time. She also spoke Pig Latin and could do twelvesies in jacks. I could do none of these things. She still does them all except for jacks and Pig Latin.
Sometimes Martha and I look at each other and we can't believe that we both have gray hair and wrinkles and that she is a grandma because we still feel like giggly sisters. And then we start giggling like crazy and talk about the same old things we have talked about all of our lives.
What I liked to do as a kid: My best friend Carole and I used to give circuses all the time. We got her Dad to build a whole trapeze system in a tree and we'd fly around from branch to branch and do tricks. We had an animal act too. My dog Suzy. We would dress her in skirts and stuff and even a hat and then teach her how to jump through hoops. One day my Aunt Eleanor came driving down the road and Suzy popped out through a hedge in a tutu and my mom’s hat. Aunt Eleanor nearly had a heart attack!
School: School was not among my favorite things. I went to a very strict all-girl school. All the teachers were creakingly old ladies with baggy stockings—except two: My eighth grade teacher was young and nice and very smart. Her name was Mrs. Oldham. Madame Hendren was my French teacher. She was older but chic. No baggy stockings and she wore elegant scarves and humongous brooches, and had had several husbands and countless boyfriends, and she told us all about them. I think Charles De Gaulle had been one of her boyfriends. If you don’t know who he was, look it up.
College: In grade school and high school, nobody thought I was especially smart. I must have been a late bloomer. But I did bloom in college. I went to the University of Michigan and got lots of A’s. I loved English. I became an English major. I loved Victorian literature and Romantic poetry and Renaissance literature and just about any kind of literature anyone could imagine.
My first job: A really stupid one—writing for a fashion magazine. Let’s skip that phase of my life.
My second job: teaching school—but I don’t remember much about it because I met this cute guy and fell in love. He became my husband. His name is Chris Knight.
He is so different from me that I can’t believe I fell in love with him. He is short and blonde. I was tall and dark. He looks like a short Robert Redford. If you don’t know who that is, look it up. But most of all, Chris is physically very daring and I'm a wimp. He was a National Geographic photographer and a documentary filmmaker.
When we got married my parents gave us a sailboat. Would you believe it that Chris talked me into sailing across the Atlantic Ocean in this thing! It was only thirty feet long. I threw up the whole way. But I did stand a watch twice a day for four hours each time even while throwing up. In between the seasickness I did find some beautiful extraordinary things out there in the vastness of the ocean. I loved the bird life and the dolphins were so playful and to watch the dawn break on a calm morning in the North Atlantic is a spiritual experience. We sailed twice across the Atlantic. Twice is definitely enough. I did manage to write a book about it all called Atlantic Circle.
When we came back I wrote my first children’s book and had my first child. Max. He’s a neat kid. Now, he is married and works in New York City. He likes martial arts and English literature. When he was younger, he read some of my books, but not all of them. He preferred horror. Anne Rice, Lovecraft. Now he reads my books to his own two children.
Five years later we had another child, Meribah. She was a very serious ballet dancer, but now she is a journalist in Nashville. And she is a very good writer and quite artistic. She married Andrew Nelles, and they have a son named Errol.
So there you have it. What else do you need to know? I live in a big old house in Cambridge. The most important thing to me is my family. All my best ideas for books, one way or another come from experiences with my family—from being a mother, a daughter, a sister, and a wife.
Press Kit
Kathryn Lasky Short Biography
Kathryn Lasky is the author of five mysteries and over one hundred books for children and young adults, including the Guardians of Ga’Hoole series, which has more than eight million copies in print, and was turned into a major motion picture, Legend of the Guardians: The Owls of Ga’Hoole. Her books have received numerous awards including a Newbery Honor, a Boston Globe-Horn Book Award, and a Washington Post-Children’s Book Guild Nonfiction Award. She has twice won the National Jewish Book award. Her work has been translated into 19 languages worldwide. She lives with her husband in Cambridge, MA.
FAQ: https://www.kathrynlasky.com/about/faqs
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From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Kathryn Lasky
Born June 24, 1944 (age 80)
Indianapolis, Indiana, U.S.
Pen name E. L. Swann
Nationality American
Alma mater University of Michigan
Notable awards Anne V. Zarrow Award for Young Readers' Literature; National Jewish Book Award; Newbery Honor
Spouse Christopher Knight
Website
kathrynlasky.com
Kathryn Lasky (born June 24, 1944)[1] is an American children's writer who also writes for adults under the names Kathryn Lasky Knight and E. L. Swann. Her children's books include several Dear America books, The Royal Diaries books, Sugaring Time, The Night Journey, Wolves of the Beyond, and the Guardians of Ga'Hoole series. Her awards include Anne V. Zarrow Award for Young Readers' Literature, National Jewish Book Award, and Newbery Honor.[2]
Biography
Kathryn Lasky grew up in Indianapolis, descendant of a line of Russian Jews.[1] She is married to Christopher Knight, with whom she lives in Cambridge, Massachusetts. She received a bachelor's degree in English from the University of Michigan and a master's degree in early childhood education from Wheelock College.[3]
She was the 2011 winner of the Anne V. Zarrow Award for Young Readers' Literature.[4]
She is the author of over one hundred books. Her most notable book series is Guardians of Ga’Hoole, which has more than 8 millions copies printed. Her books have been translated into 19 languages around the world.[1]
Her adult nonfiction work includes the 2011 book, Silk and Venom: Searching for a Dangerous Spider, a biography of the arachnologist Greta Binford,[5] and the 2017 bestseller Night Witches, the story of Soviet women pilots of the 588th Night Bomber Regiment in WWII.[6][7]
Works
Camp Princess
Born To Rule
Unicorns? Get Real!
The Royal Diaries
Elizabeth I: Red Rose of the House of Tudor (England 1544)
Marie Antoinette: Princess of Versailles (Austria-France 1769)
Mary, Queen of Scots: Queen Without a Country (France 1553)
Jahanara: Princess of Princesses (India, 1627)
Kazunomiya: Prisoner of Heaven (Japan 1858)
Dear America
A Journey to the New World: The Diary of Remember Patience Whipple, Mayflower, 1620
Dreams in the Golden Country: The Diary of Zipporah Feldman a Jewish Immigrant Girl, New York City, 1903
Christmas After All: The Great Depression Diary of Minnie Swift, Indianapolis, Indiana, 1932
A Time for Courage: The Suffragette Diary of Kathleen Bowen, Washington, D.C., 1917
Blazing West: The Journal of Augustus Pelletier, Lewis and Clark Expedition, 1804
My America
Hope In My Heart: Sofia's Immigrant Diary (also known as Hope In My Heart, Sofia's Ellis Island Diary)
Home at Last: Sofia's Immigrant Diary
An American Spring: Sofia's Immigrant Diary
Daughters of the Sea
Hannah
May
Lucy
The Crossing
Horses of the Dawn
The Escape (2014)
Star Rise (2014)
Wild Blood (2016)
Starbuck Family Adventures
Double Trouble Squared
Shadows in the Water
A Voice in the Wind
Guardians of Ga'Hoole
Main article: Guardians of Ga'Hoole
The Capture (also published as a movie tie-in edition in the UK as Legend of the Guardians)
The Journey
The Rescue
The Siege
The Shattering
The Burning
The Hatchling
The Outcast
The First Collier
The Coming of Hoole
To Be a King
The Golden Tree
The River of Wind
Exile
The War of the Ember
The Rise of a Legend (2013) (this is a prequel to the Guardians of Ga'Hoole series about Ezylryb)
Two guide books were released to give readers more insight into the world of Hoole. They are narrated by the owl Otulissa.
A Guide Book to the Great Tree (2007)
Lost Tales of Ga'Hoole (2010)
Wolves Of The Beyond
Lone Wolf
Shadow Wolf
Watch Wolf
Frost Wolf
Spirit Wolf
Star Wolf[8]
The Deadlies
Felix Takes the Stage
Spiders on the Case
Bears of the Ice
Quest of the Cubs
The Den of Forever Frost
The Keepers of the Key
Portraits
Dancing Through Fire (2005)
Standalone titles
Night Witches (201,)
The Last Girls of Pompeii (2007)
Blood Secret (2004)
Broken Song (2005) (companion to The Night Journey)
Star Split (1999) (Published in German as 3038: Staat der Klone)
Alice Rose and Sam (1998)
True North (1996)
Beyond the Burning Time (1994)
Memoirs of a Bookbat (1994)
The Bone Wars (1988)
Pageant (1986)
Beyond the Divide (1983)
The Night Journey (1981) (1982 winner of the National Jewish Book Award for Children's Literature)[9][10]
Prank (1984)
Robin Hood: The Boy Who Became a Legend (1999)
Hawksmaid: The Untold Story of Robin Hood and Maid Marian (2000)
Ashes (2010)
Chasing Orion (2007)
Home Free (1985)
Children and YA non-fiction
John Muir: America's First Environmentalist
Interrupted Journey: Saving Endangered Sea Turtles
Silk and Venom: Searching for a Dangerous Spider (2011) Candlewick. ISBN 978-0-7636-4222-8
Shadows in the Dawn: The Lemurs of Madagascar
The Most Beautiful Roof in the World
Sugaring Time
Days of the Dead
Searching for Laura Ingalls
Monarchs
Surtsey: The Newest Place on Earth
Dinosaur Dig
Traces of Life: The Origins of Humankind
A Baby map
"Tangled in Time: The Portal" (2019)
"Tangled in Time: The Burning Queen" (2019)
Picture books
Lunch Bunnies
Show and Tell Bunnies
Science Fair Bunnies
Tumble Bunnies
Lucille's Snowsuit
Lucille Camps In
Starring Lucille
Pirate Bob
Humphrey, Albert, and the Flying Machine
Before I was Your Mother
The Man Who Made Time Travel
A Voice of Her Own: The Story of Phillis Wheatley, Slave Poet
Love That Baby
Mommy's Hands
Porkenstein
Born in the Breezes: The Voyages Of Joshua Slocum
Vision of Beauty
First Painter
The Emperor's Old Clothes
Sophie and Rose. Illustrated by Wendy Anderson Halperin. Candlewick Press, 1998.[11][12]
Marven of the Great North Woods (1997 winner of the National Jewish Book Award for Children's Picture Books illustrated by Kevin Hawkes.[13] January 2013 selection by the PJ Library.[14])
A Brilliant Streak: The Making of Mark Twain
Hercules: The Man, The Myth, The Hero
The Librarian Who Measured the Earth
She's Wearing a Dead Bird on Her Head!
The Gates of the Wind
Pond Year
Cloud Eyes
I Have an Aunt on Marlborough Street
Sea Swan
My Island Grandma
Adult
Other than 'Night Gardening all Lasky's works for adult readers are under the name Kathryn Lasky Knight.
Atlantic Circle (1985) (Memoir about Lasky and her husband, Chris Knight, covering their childhood years on to a trip shortly their getting married sailing a thirty-foot ketch from Maine to Europe and back.)
The Widow of Oz (1989)
Night Gardening (1999) (written under the pseudonym of E.L. Swann)
Calista Jacobs mystery
This series for adult readers was also written under the name Kathryn Lasky Knight.
Trace Elements (1986)
Mortal Words (1990)
Mumbo Jumbo (1991)
Dark Swan (1994)
QUOTED: "Someone else came up with it—a fan of mine who has been writing me since he was 10, and he’s 15 now. About a year and a half or two years ago, he wrote and asked, Are you sure you’ll never write another owl book? Write one about the great old sage of the tree, Ezylryb—what was he like as a kid? The book is dedicated to him—Evan Weaver."
Tuesday, September 3, 2013
Q&A with author Kathryn Lasky
Kathryn Lasky
Kathryn Lasky is the author of many books for children and for adults, both fiction and nonfiction, including the Guardians of Ga'Hoole and Wolves of the Beyond series. She lives in Cambridge, Massachusetts.
Q: Your new book, The Rise of a Legend, is part of your Guardians of Ga'Hoole series. What is the inspiration for the latest book?
A: Someone else came up with it—a fan of mine who has been writing me since he was 10, and he’s 15 now. About a year and a half or two years ago, he wrote and asked, Are you sure you’ll never write another owl book? Write one about the great old sage of the tree, Ezylryb—what was he like as a kid? The book is dedicated to him—Evan Weaver. What’s really good is that it’s a stand-alone book, you don’t have to [have] read the other books.
Q: How did the series first come about?
A: My husband, Christopher Knight, has worked as a National Geographic photographer and filmmaker, and we did quite a few nonfiction books together. I had an idea that we would do a nonfiction book about owls. I’m not a bird person, but owls fascinate me—I think it’s their faces.
He said it’s crazy, they’re nocturnal, they’re rare, they’re endangered, [it would be difficult to get photos]—why don’t you do a fantasy book?
This was 12 to 14 years ago. I wrote a proposal for the book, and the head of Scholastic called me about something else, and then she said, is there anything else, and I said, A fantasy book. This was at the height of the Harry Potter craze, and I said, It’s not about a wizard! I could feel her sigh of relief. I said, It’s actually about a fantasy world of owls; there are no people. I faxed the proposal, and she said, This isn’t one book, it’s six books. It turned into 15, and now 16.
Q: You’re very prolific—how do you write so many books?
A: I get these ideas. I work on one for a while, and I might get an idea for another, and cook up a proposal. Maybe I’ll write two at a time, but they’re at very different stages.
Q: In addition to owls, wolves feature prominently in your books. What draws you to wolves?
A: Scholastic kept wanting me to do more animal books. It seemed like a natural spinoff. Wolves were always in the background, and they’re very different from owls—anatomically, but [in addition] wolves have very elaborate social behavior and construct. With owls, I had to go with the little bit [of information] I could find. I found wolf behavior very fascinating.
Q: You’ve written both fiction and nonfiction. Do you have a preference?
A: Fiction. Historical fiction. I have a book coming out in a month called The Extra. It’s a story that slipped between the cracks of history.
Three years ago, I wrote a book, Ashes, set in the early 1930s in Berlin, from the perspective of a 14-year-old girl, not a Jewish girl, growing up in Berlin in an upper-middle-class family; she’s seeing the rise of Hitler.
I found a story that very few people know about: Leni Riefenstahl, the filmmaker, she made a feature film that was very bad, called Tiefland. It was underwritten by the Third Reich. It was a corny, romantic story about a flamenco dancer who goes from village to village in Spain, and had a romance with a handsome shepherd.
She was making the film in Austria, and there weren’t a lot of Spanish-looking people in Austria, so she went to the internment camps. She found people, mostly Gypsies. She was in the movie, and this girl was her stunt double.
She was treacherous and horrible as we know Leni Riefenstahl was, she had a lot of power, she could send people to the concentration camps. I told it from the point of view of the girl, who is a composite of two real-life girls. The book will be released October 8.
Q: Do some things you write about stay with you more than others, as this story apparently did from one book to the next?
A: Maybe these two. I would say there are genres that stay with me—historical fiction stays with me a lot. I weave a lot of historical fiction into my owl books. Guardians of Ga’Hoole Book 6 has a battle based on the Normandy invasion. One is based on ancient Greek battles.
Q: Are readers aware of the parallels with history?
A: I don’t know. I often give an author’s note at the back that says, The battle in Chapter 2 is based on this. I remodel speeches and always give credit. Ezylryb, when he is an old guy in the preceding books, has one speech I based on a Winston Churchill speech…. In one of the wolf books, there’s a speech that George Patton gave to the troops. It was full of bad language. I recast it.
Q: Do you prefer writing for young people or adults?
A: Young people. I have written for adults. I like connecting more with young people. They’re intellectually more active in a way. And emotionally.
Q: What are you working on now?
A: I’m working on a couple of things, but I don’t like to talk about them at this stage.
--Interview with Deborah Kalb
QUOTED: "There is a subtext in this book that evolved and sort of caught me by surprise and if the readers get it I hope it will not just enhance their enjoyment of the book but keep them thinking about it. The subtext is really about what is real and what is not; those borders between reality and virtual reality and what happens when they brush up against one another."
Friday, November 11, 2016
Q&A with Kathryn Lasky
Kathryn Lasky is the author of More Than Magic, a new novel for kids. Her many other books for young readers include the Guardians of Ga'Hoole and Wolves of the Beyond series. She lives in Cambridge, Massachusetts.
Q: How did you come up with the idea for More Than Magic and your characters Ryder and Rory?
A: I have to admit that I was inspired by the animated character Merida in the enormously popular Pixar Disney movie Brave. My granddaughter loved that movie. I bought her one of those Merida wigs for Christmas and she was running all over our house in it.
Then it wasn’t six months later that I read about this outcry from some of the original artists who created the animated character. Merida was undergoing a makeover because she was going to become part of the pantheon of Disney Princess collection. There would be a myriad of products from backpacks to dolls.
They were changing her appearance drastically to make her look older, more sophisticated and more sexual for the teen demographic. Merida was no longer the spunky, tough little hero.
So I started thinking what if one of Merida’s creators had a daughter who had been the inspiration for that character? How would that spin out? Wouldn’t the inspiration and the cartoon character feel betrayed in some way? That could be a cool storyline.
Hence Rory, the animated character in More Than Magic, was “born” and so was her inspiration, Ryder, whose late mom, Andrea Holmsby, was the animator that had created her.
Q: The book blends magical adventures with computer knowledge. What did you see as the right balance between the two?
A: I had to be very careful not to go into too much arcane detail about the computer stuff. I had first hand knowledge of this process and CGI because of the Warner Brothers film Legend of The Guardians that was based on my own series, The Guardians of Ga’Hoole.
I had met the animators and saw how they worked. You’ll notice that the book is dedicated to Simon Whiteley and Grant Freckelton, who were the directors of animation for The Legend of The Guardians.
The irony is that this CGI stuff is almost magic, especially if you’re like me and technically deficient. I couldn’t write as if I knew too much! I know that sounds weird. I had had to know just enough and attempt to dazzle a reader with the magic and not the technology.
Q: What do you hope readers take away from the book?
A: I’m never sure what I should want for readers beyond a compelling read that will make them want to keep reading.
There is a subtext in this book that evolved and sort of caught me by surprise and if the readers get it I hope it will not just enhance their enjoyment of the book but keep them thinking about it.
The subtext is really about what is real and what is not; those borders between reality and virtual reality and what happens when they brush up against one another.
One of my favorite lines is the book is when Ryder says to her friend: “Eli, I got news for you. The virtual world is not exactly virtual. In some ways it’s more real than the real world.”
I actually had considered as a title for the book, “Becoming Real.”
Q: Do you usually know how your novels will end before you start writing them, or do you make many changes along the way?
A: I usually have a very vague idea of the ending. I need to know that but getting there is a circuitous route, and that involves many changes along the way.
Q: What are you working on now, and will there be a sequel to More Than Magic?
A: More Than Magic is a stand alone book. I am working on a new animal fantasy series, however, about polar bears.
Q: Anything else we should know?
A: Not that I can think of. But thank you for the opportunity to share my thoughts about More Than Magic.
QUOTED: "The characters were definitely fictional creations in terms of their names, backgrounds, personal history. Fictional creations but informed by a lot of research."
Wednesday, August 23, 2017
Q&A with Kathryn Lasky
Kathryn Lasky is the author of the new young adult novel Night Witches, which focuses on a regiment of Russian female pilots during World War II. Her many other books for children and young adults include the Guardians of Ga'Hoole and Wolves of the Beyond series. She lives in Cambridge, Massachusetts.
Q: You've noted that you became fascinated with the Night Witches after reading the obituary of one of the women. What made you decide to write a young adult novel about them?
A: Saint Augustine once said something to the effect that when people die, they don’t vanish, they just become invisible. I wanted to make Nadezhda and these other women visible.
Q: What did you see as the right blend between the actual World War II history and your own fictional creations?
A: It is a balancing act to a certain degree. But I adhered very closely to the events of the war and what was happening in Stalingrad.
For example, the transport boat that was leaving the pier really was bombed and hundreds of lives were lost. I made my character Valya a witness to this. We see it through her eyes, and she had been anxious to get on this transport out of Stalingrad and would have been on it but it was already too crowded.
The characters were definitely fictional creations in terms of their names, backgrounds, personal history. Fictional creations but informed by a lot of research.
I discovered that a lot of them had attended or were attending polytech schools. Many had joined flying clubs before the war. These clubs were popular. I read accounts of actual combat missions. So I often plucked an event from one mission or another and adapted it to a particular character.
There was a devastating night that I give an account of where at least four flights went down and eight crew members were lost. I used that event in relation to the disappearance of Valya’s sister Tatyana.
Q: Can you say more about your research for this book, and did you learn anything that particularly surprised you?
A: First of all, I was continually being surprised. That’s what happens when you undertake a project like this.
My research was extensive. A friend of mine had access to a Ph.D. thesis on the Night Witches and two other all-women Russian regiments and he sent that to me. By the way, the other two regiments were not bombers and did not remain exclusively women.
One of my best sources was the book Wings, Women and War by Reina Pennington. I did read some interviews, journal-type diaries that were part of another book.
The book was published in the early ‘80s and I had an eerie feeling as I was reading these accounts that they had in some way been censored. Perhaps the women had self censored these accounts. I’m not sure.
Anthony Beevor’s books on World War II and in particular the one on Stalingrad were invaluable.
Q: What would you say is the legacy today of these young women?
A: I can’t really say. But I think there is a lot of resonance, particularly when one considers Trump’s ridiculous tweet about transgendered people not being able to serve in the military. I mean, really, imagine rejecting smart, capable human beings who are passionate about their country and democracy being forbidden to serve!
Q: What are you working on now?
A: Well, I am back in the animal kingdom with a new series about polar bears. The series is titled Bears of The Ice. The first book which will come out in February of 2018, is called The Quest of The Cubs.
Q: Anything else we should know?
A: On the very first page of the book there is a hideous error. Not my fault. Just under the words Chapter 1 they printed a date, Stalingrad 1941. It should be 1942. It was 1942 in my original draft. Somehow it got changed. They have corrected it in the ebook and shall be correcting it in subsequent printings. Oy vey, worst error I ever experienced!
QUOTED: "Faceless departs from some of the other books because it has a slightly fantastical element. I was also always interested in spies. So I wanted to have this fourth book focus on spies and spy craft. The notion of a young person as a spy really intrigued me."
Tuesday, October 19, 2021
Q&A with Kathryn Lasky
Kathryn Lasky is the author of Faceless, a new middle grade novel for kids. Her many other books include the new children's picture book She Caught the Light. She lives in Cambridge, Massachusetts.
Q: What inspired you to write Faceless, and how did you create your character Alice and her family?
A: I have always been fascinated by WWII. My uncle was in the Battle of the Bulge and another relative of mine served under Patton in North Africa. And I had an aunt who was a WAVE, which was the women’s branch of the U.S. Naval Reserve.
As a kid I devoured WWII novels. Still do. Reading one right now called The Last Bookshop in London that is set during the Blitz. So I suppose that is how I came to write WWII novels.
Faceless is my fourth! My first was Ashes, then came The Extra, and then Night Witches.
Faceless departs from some of the other books because it has a slightly fantastical element. I was also always interested in spies. So I wanted to have this fourth book focus on spies and spy craft. The notion of a young person as a spy really intrigued me.
Q: How did you research this particular novel?
A: Well, I had already done a lot of research for my previous books, but for this one I had to learn a lot about spy work and spy craft (I love that term). I had planned to go to the Spy Museum in D.C., but alas with the pandemic I couldn’t.
I was particularly interested in the Russian advance on Berlin and then their continued advance toward the Elbe River in 1945.
Also, the book takes you into the innermost sanctums of Hitler—everything from his bunker in Berlin to his retreat, the Berghof in the Bavarian alps.
I got to know the ins and outs of his private life—what foods he ate (he was vegetarian), the people who worked closest to him. A secretary of his died not all that long ago—defending him to the end, or at least claiming that she know nothing what was going on.
His fascination with Wagner’s opera The Ring Cycle, his relationship with Wagner’s daughter-in-law. His mistress Eva Braun—all that. Although The Ring Cycle is a very small part of the actual book, I spent a lot of time listening to parts of it and reading about it.
Q: You also have a new picture book out this year, She Caught the Light. How did you first learn about astronomer Williamina Stevens Fleming, and what do you see as her legacy today?
A: I live in Cambridge Massachusetts, about a 15-minute walk to the Harvard observatory, so I suppose that is where I first heard about Williamina Stevens Fleming and what they called the women calculator or the human computer, which was a dozen or so women who devised a scheme for reading and organizing the spectra of stars and thus mapped the heavens.
Williamina was in my neck of the woods a kind of local hero. Well, they all were, but she was the first one and then others came to join her. It was too hard to write about all of them, at least in one book.
I also liked that all the odds were against her. She arrived from Scotland in Boston with her husband who promptly abandoned her as soon as they landed and she was pregnant!
She began as a housekeeper in the home of the director of the observatory and he and his wife early on realized how smart she was. Stories like this just almost write themselves. There is a natural narrative arc that they come with. So I loved writing her story.
Q: What do you think Julianna Swaney's illustrations add to the book?
A: Julianna’s illustrations are beyond fabulous. I tried to convert the images of very abstract concept through language using a lot of metaphor but she took those metaphors and made them bloom like flowers across the page in her illustrations.
Q: What are you working on now?
A: I am working on a few things but it’s too early to discuss them right now.
Meet Kathryn Lasky
January 6, 2015Nicole Melanson
Interview by Nicole Melanson ~
Interview with writer Kathryn Lasky - photo by Christopher Knight
Kathryn Lasky is an award-winning children’s author who writes in many genres from picture books to middle grade and young adult novels. Her New York Times bestselling series, The Guardians of Ga’Hoole, became the basis for the Warner Brothers film, Legend of The Guardians. Among her many awards are the Newbery Honor, The Washington Post Children’s Book Guild Lifetime Achievement Award, and The Boston Globe Award for Nonfiction. Lasky also writes commercial fiction for adults under the pseudonym E. L. Swann. She lives in Massachusetts with her husband, Christopher Knight.
Kathryn Lasky’s website
Twitter: @KathrynLasky1
HOW DID YOU GET STARTED AS A WRITER?
I am not really sure how I got started. I thought of a simple little picture book that was based on a grandfather and a grandson. It was called I have Four Names for My Grandfather. The grandfather was my father and the grandson, as I did not have children at the time, was my nephew. My husband Chris photographed the story. He is a former National Geographic photographer so the pictures were really good. Little Brown bought it in a flash. I think they were very drawn to the notion of an intergenerational story and they loved the photos.
WHAT IS YOUR LATEST BOOK OR CURRENT PROJECT?
My newest book, Star Rise, was just released on December 30th. It is the second in my trilogy Horses of The Dawn. Horses of The Dawn is basically the story of the Spanish conquest of the New World told from the horse’s point of view.
WHAT IS YOUR WORK ENVIRONMENT LIKE?
Great—a cozy study that I have worked in for 35 years. Kind of overstuffed with family photos, and mementos. I have my kids’ art that they made when they were really little hanging on the walls. There are three windows that I can look out on my garden. Just spotted a cardinal!
WHEN DO YOU WORK?
Pretty much all the time. I take breaks to break it up because if I don’t my body would just seize up on me.
WHAT IS YOUR WRITING PROCESS?
I am constantly reinventing my work process in small ways all the time. But before I put pencil to paper or finger to keyboard I have thought about a project a long, long time. During this period of time, a project (or what I thought was one) might drift out of my head entirely. If it does, it’s gone and gone for good reason. It couldn’t sustain my interest. So when I do get around to actually doing a project I know it is one that I can get to the finish line with.
I begin with tons of research. Research really never ends. I keep doing it all the way through the writing process. And I am not talking about research for just a historical fiction book. People are always surprised when I say fantasy requires research. When I wrote the Guardians of Ga’Hoole I cannot begin to tell you how much research I did on owl behavior, their natural history etc… I organize it all into files on my computer but I often write with books on my lap. Then I start what I call a general outline that is really the narrative arc of the book. I am a dedicated outliner. I outline as I go along writing the book so by the end of a novel I might have nearly twenty outlines that work in a linear way to get me to the end of the book.
When I get to the end, that is just the beginning. I do at least three drafts before I send it into my editor, then usually three more for the editor.
WHY DO YOU WRITE?
I write because I like to imagine other lives and other worlds and it is really the only thing I am good at.
WHO OR WHAT INSPIRES YOUR WRITING?
Waking up in the morning inspires me. I mean what a great job—I get up every morning and reinvent the world.
WHAT IS THE HARDEST PART OF BEING A WRITER?
Having a book rejected just because people say this kind of thing doesn’t sell anymore.
WHAT IS YOUR VISION AS A WORD ARTIST OR BOOK INDUSTRY PROFESSIONAL?
To stay free and write what I want to write.
WHICH FEMALE AUTHOR WOULD YOU LOVE TO HEAR MORE FROM?
Kate Atkinson. I love her books. She can’t write them fast enough for me. She is a very funny British crime writer—although she does not necessarily like to be classified that way and she does write other things. But she doesn’t write for children.
Thank you, Kathryn Lasky!
— Nicole Melanson
Interview with Kathryn Lasky
January 26, 2017
By writer-violist DIAMOND, Jenks, Oklahoma
I had the privilege to interview one of my favorite authors, Kathryn Lasky. She has written over one hundred books in many different genres. Some of her best well-known books include the Guardians of Ga’Hoole Series, Wolves of the Beyond Series, and historical fiction diaries from several time periods in history. I asked about her personal and writing lives.
What is your given name?
“My given name is Kathryn Lasky Knight.”
Did you ever think of giving up about writing?
“I know that I can never give up because I have so many ideas. I just need to put them on paper.”
What/who inspired you?
“My mom inspired me. She said that I was great with words and have a wonderful imagination. It made me want to write even more.”
Did someone help you along the way with your writing career?
“My husband, Christopher Knight works with me. He uses some of his pictures for my books.”
When/where were you born?
“I was born on the suburbs of Indianapolis, Indiana on June 24th, 1944.”
Are you married?
“Yes. I am married. My husband's name is Christopher Knight.”
What do you think is your greatest achievement?
“My children and my marriage are my greatest accomplishments.”
What is your daily routine?
“My routine can vary but I try to do some writing every day in addition to research and the day to day stuff everyone has to do like laundry, chores, shopping, etc.”
What challenges did you have along the way with your writing career?
“My biggest challenge is always finding enough time to do all the writing I want and need to do.”
Did you want to be famous?
“My desire was never to be famous. I just wanted to write. Being famous (if that’s what I am) is a side effect.”
What do you like to do in your free time?
“I like to travel and watch movies. I love spending time with my grandchildren.”
Are you proud of what you accomplished?
“Of course I am happy to be a writer whose work people seem to enjoy. Proud? I don’t know if that is the right word. I guess I am glad that I have been able to use a gift I was given to do something I love.”
What is your favorite food?
“My favorite food would have to be anything right out of the garden.”
How did your life change when you became famous?
“Well, I started going to book signings and seeing my fans.”
Do you have children?
“I have two children. My firstborn’s name is Max. About five years later, we had another child. Her name is named Meribah.”
Do you have a relationship with your parents?
“In my opinion, everyone should have a relationship with their parents. They are the people that raised you. You should give them some credit. My parents and I used to joke around a lot, even if no other people got the jokes.”
Are any of your family members famous?
“My older sister, Marta can speak French. She is also very smart. My dad lived to be ninety-one years old. He ran his own business. My mom was smart and beautiful. My daughter, Meribah, is a freelance reporter based in Chicago. Max is a photographer, just like my husband.”
Who was your role model?
“My best friend Carole and I would play together. All the fun things we did together would be great to write about.”
Why did you want to do what you are doing?
“I wanted to become a writer because I had a burn inside of me, a burn that I had to get out. I had to get my stories out to the world. I just had to.”
Did anyone ever doubt you?
“Nobody really doubted me. They let me do what I wanted to do and helped me along the way.”
Did you ever think that you were going to be famous?
“I actually didn’t think of being famous. I just wrote what I wanted. I suppose it was really good, because I am famous.”
What is the bad side of being famous?
“I would say that the worst part of being famous is that when I go to the supermarket sometimes, people recognize me and start whispering. Some probably don’t even know that a writer is standing in their presence.”
How hard was it for you to achieve your goal?
“It wasn’t really hard because writing just came naturally. Of course every writer gets writer's block once in a while. But my kids, grandchildren, and my children give me ideas by the way they act and speak, etc.”
Did you fully achieve what you set out to do?
“I have. But also I haven’t because I am still writing today.”
What was your biggest sacrifice/worst obstacle to overcome?
“My biggest sacrifice is having to sometimes not to spend time with my husband, children, and grandchildren because I need to write everyday.
How old are you when you started this path?
“I knew that I wanted to be a writer at age 10.
Interviewing with Kathryn Lasky was a great privledge and I'm glad I got to do so. She is such an inspirational woman writer.
Kathryn Lasky on the Character Perspective That Most
Interests Her
From the NewberyTart Podcast
By NewberyTart
October 16, 2020
NewberyTart is a podcast about kids’ books, for adults, and is recorded in Atlanta, Georgia, by two friends who approach the Newbery thing from very different, but surprisingly complementary, directions.
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Jennie and Marcy talk with Kathryn Lasky, author of many books for young people, about her upcoming projects, the intrigue of spy novels, and writing about the Holocaust.
From the episode:
Kathryn Lasky: One thing, oddly enough—and this only struck me about six or eight months ago when I was finishing up Faceless—I have never written from the Jewish point of view in any of those World War II books, which is odd because I’m Jewish, and I have about thirteen or fourteen cousins that I never met because they died in the camp. They were in concentration camps. So, it’s odd that I never elected to write from the Jewish point of view.
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I’m not sure why, but I think it might be that I felt—first of all, so many people have written from the Jewish point of view about the Holocaust and everything. But I really think it’s because I felt that I was trying to understand; what was more intriguing to me was the non-Jewish point of view. Who stood by and did nothing? Who was passive, or who was like Schindler? That point of of view just interests me so much.
***
To listen to the rest of the episode, as well as the whole archive of NewberyTart, subscribe and listen on iTunes, Stitcher, Spotify, or wherever else you find your favorite podcasts.
Kathryn Lasky is a New York Times bestselling author of many acclaimed children’s and young adult books. Her picture book Sugaring Time was awarded a Newbery Honor. She has twice won the National Jewish Book Award, for her novel The Night Journey and her picture book Marven of the Great North Woods. Her book Elizabeth I: Red Rose of the House of Tudor was the most popular book in Scholastic’s bestselling Royal Diaries series. The Guardians of Ga’Hoole was made into the Warner Bros. movie Legend of the Guardians. She lives in Cambridge, Massachusetts, with her husband. Visit her online at www.kathrynlasky.com.
A conversation with Kathryn Lasky
Ross Cristantiellorcristantiello@wickedlocal.com
Kathryn Lasky has written over 100 books spanning a wide variety of styles and genres.
Kathryn Lasky is one of the busiest and most successful author of children's books today. The Cambridge resident is a Newbery Honor medalist and two-time winner of the National Jewish Book Award. She is perhaps best-know for "The Guardians of Ga’Hoole," a fantasy series about a world of owls which was turned into a movie in 2010. She has published adult myseries, memoirs, epic fantasy, historical fiction, and more. Currently, Lasky is hard at work on "Faceless," which centers on a young British spy during World War II. Lasky will be speaking as part of the Cary Lecture Series in a virtual event Nov. 7. We caught up with Lasky to pick her brain on avoiding writer's block, fantasy world building, and much more.
The following interview has been edited and condensed for publication.
You've written more than 100 books. How do you stay so productive, and what's your writing process like?
I get an idea and it rolls around in my head for quite a while. If it disappears I know it's not worthy of attention. If it sticks around, I start making notes and trying to pull together the central narrative. Then I have to do an elaborate proposal, which requires writing a few chapters. If something gets accepted, I make these very detailed outlines. They're ongoing. I could easily have 15 outlines for a book as it progresses. I start with a crude one, just a few sentences for the beginning, middle and end. As I go along, I'll outline the next few chapters and so on. And I never get writer's block or anything. I think it's because I choose my topics so carefully. That way, I maintain a passion for the book throughout.
I'm not slowing down, either. I've been writing since my kids were little, and I didn't have as much time then. Now they're all grown up and I have grandchildren and I'd say my output has increased. I have more time to work now.
You've written in a lot of different genres and styles, from memoirs to historical fiction, to epic fantasy. Which type is most challenging?
I've done some adult books, mysteries, and I've found those are the most challenging. You have to drop in clues, and red herrings, and to tell you the truth, I don't think I'm that good at it. People that are great mystery writers, it's almost like a crossword to them. They enjoy solving it.
Many of your books are told in the format of fictional diary entries for real-life historical figures. Was it difficult trying to make the thoughts of these people relatable to modern readers?
I started with a ton of research and I found that emotions don't change that much throughout the years. Queen Elizabeth experienced loneliness and anger like anyone would. Feelings don't change. I read a lot of her letters, and you get something of her voice from that. It's more formal, but her feelings are timeless.
When building a fantasy world from scratch, where do you start?
My fantasy books are largely about animals, so I start in the natural world. I live very close to the Harvard Natural History Museum and one day while I was working on a book with owl characters, I heard a knock on my door and it was someone from the museum, who showed up with a pair of binoculars on my doorstep. He said that there was a sighting of an Eastern screech owl in a tree in your backyard and he wanted to take a look. I got excited too, since one of my characters is that type of bird, and I was just writing about him. That owl stuck around my yard for about two years and I made friends with the guy from the museum. He was a curator of the bird exhibits there. That became a wonderful resource for me. They have a massive collection.
For my wolf books, I went to a wolf refuge in Ipswich. For my series about polar bears, I even went on a research trip up in the Arctic. We went out on the ice on these rovers and saw the bears up close.
What are your thoughts on the future? Do you have upcoming projects you'd like to talk about?
I try not to talk about new projects because it's very easy to talk a book out, if that makes sense. It's interesting watching the trends in young adult writing. For example, dystopian novels are huge now. I love the older ones like Louis Lowry's "The Giver." But then they got too bizarre for me, personally. But I realize that genre has a powerful draw for young readers.
I will tease my next book a bit, though. My fourth World War II book is coming out next year and I'll talk about that during the event.
This is probably a question you've been asked multiple times, but I think it's important. What advice do you have for aspiring writers?
Read. Read all you can. That's how I got interested in animals, World War II, everything. You need to read very widely, all genres, fiction and nonfiction. That way, you'll find something that inspires you and go from there. Also, there's no one way to write. I do all these outlines, but you have to find the process that works for you.
The public can register for Lasky's talk at www.carylectureseries.org.
A Change in Perspective: Writing for Adults, After a Career Spent Writing for Children
Kathryn Lasky reflects on what it means to write a mystery for adults
September 8, 2022 By Kathryn Lasky
VIA WOODHALL PRESS
What happens when a well-known children’s book author switches genres after decades of writing fantasy and historical fiction for middle grade and young adult readers? Kathryn Lasky the award-winning children’s book author is doing just that. As the author of Guardian of Ga’Hoole the New York Times bestselling series that was turned into a Warner Brothers film The Legend of The Guardians directed by Zack Snyder, she is now writing an adult mystery Light on Bone (Woodhall Press). The story is set in New Mexico and features Georgia O’Keeffe as an amateur sleuth.
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The first thought that sometimes comes to some people’s minds might be, ‘Wow now you can write about characters who can drink and have sex and swear.” True but there is a lot more that makes it very different. The fundamental difference is the perspective and that is what I find most fascinating. When I’m writing children’s books and I am in the mind of say a middle grade kid, I have this sort of inner eleven year old that I am filtering things through, or if it’s a YA book an inner teenager. In either case, the perspective is always looking forward to what the possibilities of the years, the life ahead might be. It’s a soft yearning for the future, for power, for independence that subtly colors all. Such is not the case when I’m writing an adult mystery the protagonist is all grown up.
In the case of Light in Bone set in 1934, the protagonist, Georgia O’Keeffe is in her late forties and as with many of us—who like me are well beyond our late forties—our perspective is often looking back. Back to what could have been, might have happened and yes, how much time do we have left to do it. Time is finite for us, for the characters in an adult book. Time is rarely finite for the central characters of a children’s book. And because children are young, they don’t have as many regrets as an older character, but perhaps a bit more hope. However on the brighter side there is the possibility of renewal. So that in a nutshell is the significant difference between writing for kids and writing for grownups.
And it was renewal that drove Georgia O’Keeffe to the southwest desert. She had been to New Mexico before but it is the first time she had ever gone to the Ghost Ranch. The ranch would become her residence for six months of the year until she restored a house in the nearby town of Abiqui more than a decade later.
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When Georgia arrived at the Ghost Ranch in 1934 she was fragile and almost broken. She had spent three months in a psychiatric hospital in New York following a complete nervous breakdown after her husband Alfred Stieglitz’s very public affair with Dorothy Norman, a wealthy heiress. It was not simply his infidelity; she had been forced by Stieglitz to have an abortion a few years before. Adding to her misery she had been commissioned to do a mural for Radio City Music Hall that been a disaster. The wall for the mural had been poorly prepared and began to disintegrate before she had finished the mural. Somewhat ironically, she was in this period approaching the peak of her career and had just sold a painting for an unheard of sum of money. She had fled to the southwest and found herself rejuvenated.
The narrative begins when she discovers the slain body of a priest in the desert. More murders follow. And there is a burgeoning romance between Georgia and the local sheriff. Add to this mixture an international espionage plot involving Charles Lindbergh (who is staying at the ranch with his wife Anne). And then more bodies turn up ultimately resulting in an unforeseen denouement. Of course, the object as with any mystery is to figure out who did it. That is the whole point of mystery fiction and that differs vastly from the point of children’s novels, unless they are mysteries as well. Children’s novels are more often focused on just getting through life, and not simply avoiding murder.
Solving a crime in a mystery seems easier to me than arriving at a resolution in a children’s book. But this is not what motivated me to go back to mysteries. Yes, almost thirty years ago I had written the Calista Jacobs mysteries series. The central character was in fact a children’s book illustrator. It was fun because I knew a lot about that world. The character was very similar to me—her physical appearance, her sense of humor, her situation. She was a mom like me and her middle grade son played a sidekick role. She lived in a house just like mine, in the same city where I live, Cambridge, Massachusetts. But when I stumbled across the idea for Light On Bone I could not have found a character more different from myself than Georgia O’Keeffe.
I had of course always loved O’Keeffe’s paintings but had not really done much research about her life. And I was going to have to. Nowadays I write a lot of animal fantasy for children and I have to do an enormous amount of research. People think ‘oh fantasy you just make it up, right’? Wrong! It’s not anything goes. Luckily I live very close to the Harvard Bio labs and the Harvard Natural History. For my children’s series, The Guardians of Ga’Hoole, about a colony of owls, I spend many hours at Harvard, which has one of the largest collections of dead owls anyplace! Yes it used to be legal to shoot them. Now most of the bodies come from disastrous collisions with trucks and cars. I needed to find out about their anatomy, their feathers which are very complex, their hunting and mating habits. You just can’t make this stuff up even if it’s a fantasy book.
Well, I took the same approach to Georgia O’Keeffe—you just can’t make it up. You have to do the research. There was one gem of a fact that I discovered about O’Keeffe. She had an odd perceptual phenomenon known as synesthesia. For Georgia it was a blessing. For an amateur sleuth it would be as well. Synesthesia occurs when stimulation of one sensory, or cognitive pathway, leads to spontaneous experiences in a secondary pathway. Imagine, for example, when a person hears images and sees sound. Or as O’Keeffe herself put it in an interview: “You asked me about music. I like it better than anything in the world—color gives me the same thrill. . .” She could find the equivalents of color, shape, and imagery in music. She would sit and listen to music for hours. Her favorites were Haydn, Beethoven, Schumann, and Bach, as well as Gershwin.
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Someone asked me if writing for adults requires the same willing suspension of disbelief as fantasy. It does not at all. Convincing people that an artist like Georgia O’Keeffe can pick up a clue like the glint of a coin in the low-angled sun striking something silver is not hard at all. Convincing a reader that owls do not simply talk but read, do mathematics and forge tools as well as make art is a lot harder and requires a much greater suspension of disbelief.
When Georgia O’Keeffe walked into the desert after her nervous breakdown she discovered a new palette, and I discovered a new protagonist to write about. In certain ways it seemed like a walk in the park after trying to convince readers that owls could in fact do algebra, or that beavers could talk to a swan.
Fictional But Faithful:
Writing Georgia O'Keeffe
as an Amateur Sleuth
"She was alert to the infinitesimal that others might miss. For her, the Sherlock Holmes magnifying glass would be redundant."
July 3, 2024 By Kathryn Lasky
Via Severn House
The burden, and I should say the responsibility of writing about a real historical figure, is formidable. Do you depict that person warts and all? How indeed do you reveal those warts without violating your character, but rather make the flaws an interesting part of their personality? This is a challenge I had to meet head on when I set out to write my Georgia O’Keeffe mysteries. I knew about her as a painter as the rest of the world does. But what in her character or her work as a painter would even suggest she might make a good amateur sleuth?
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Actually, my research began with an art exhibition at the Peabody Essex Museum in Salem, Massachusetts that focused not on her paintings but her “things”—her clothing mostly. She was an expert seamstress and sewed many of her own clothes. I fell in love with one cream colored dress that had miniscule pleats that made up the bodice. I put that dress in the first book I wrote featuring Georgia, Light On Bone. One thinks of O’Keeffe’s paintings as great swathes of color, broad brush strokes but the stitching on this dress is just the opposite of broad brushstrokes. It is painstakingly delicate. The detailing is exquisite, the stitches almost microscopic. In short, she was alert to the infinitesimal that others might miss. For her, the Sherlock Holmes magnifying glass would be redundant.
In addition to the clothes she made, she had a fairly large collection of Japanese kimonos. These kimonos in a sense spoke largely about her aesthetic which was sleek and simple. But there were also, jeans, sneakers, and a well-worn pair of brown leather lace up boots that she used for tromping around in the desert.
Issey Miyake, the famous Japanese clothing designer, in 1983 declared the painter his muse. “Georgia O’Keeffe. For the first time, I’m designing clothes with one person in mind. And I’m planning to send them to her when they’re ready.”
But perhaps the greatest example of her refined sensibilities is her house in Abiquiu, New Mexico. Her dining table was a plywood plank on sawhorses. On a small table by an easy chair there was a dish of rattles she collected from rattlesnakes she had encountered on her walks out in the desert, and killed if they threatened her. There were also, the bones that she searched for that became a central subject of so many of her paintings. In short, no clutter, no tchotchkes, nothing distracting. She could keep her focus on form, pattern and construction. How things fit together.
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As I have said countless times to people, when you come back from seeing the Abiquiu house, you simply want to throw out everything in your own house. But then you realize it wouldn’t work, for it is the New Mexico light that brings it all together. She decorated the house in an active partnership with the desert light.
But these are all the material things that spoke so directly to her aesthetic. What about her thinking? Her beliefs beyond the material? How did she think and handle her complex relationship with her husband Alfred Stieglitz who was serially unfaithful to her? Perhaps the one act she never forgave was when he forced her to have an abortion.
Although I never found anything in her writing that directly mentioned the abortion, I did find this letter to Stieglitz after one of her early trips to the southwest.
There is much life in me — when it was always checked in moving toward you — I realized it would die if it could not move toward something … I chose coming away because here at least I feel good — and it makes me feel I am growing very tall and straight inside — and very still — Maybe you will not love me for it — but for me it seems to be the best thing I can do for you — I hope this letter carries no hurt to you — It is the last thing I want to do in the world.
So, it was by reading her letters to Stieglitz and those she wrote to Anita Pollitzer, another artist and friend, who introduced her to Stieglitz that I discovered her voice, and some of her deepest passions. It is a quiet yet dazzling voice. It is a voice that I felt was the essence of Georgia O’Keeffe.
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I have written many novels that feature historical figures. Although these are fictional stories, I always want to stay true to the character of that person. I think of myself as an explorer of feelings, buried emotions and not simply events in their lives, but how these events might impact their lives and how they would think about them. And this is what fed into Georgia’s eccentric skills as an amateur detective. There is an array of feelings and emotions to be explored in the life of O’Keeffe. Perhaps first and foremost those feelings for the desert and her regrets of never having a child. But there are also her political beliefs and the growing threat of the second world war.
Perhaps the best part of writing about an historical figure is for me the ‘historical’ part. My book Light on Bone, and the second one, Mortal Radiance, are both set in the 1930s. The build up toward World War 2 is beginning. Therefore, I find myself having to take meticulous care on a range on seemingly obscure questions as I explore that era and put facts in the book. What year were the ice cream treats Eskimo pies invented? Did they have electro cardiograms in the 1930’s? When was penicillin developed? The OSS morphed into the CIA in the 1940s. How did that happen? When and where in our country did the German American Bund emerge. What were the ties between the Duke and the Duchess of Windsor and Nazis?
But perhaps one of the most fascinating things I had to explore was a perceptual phenomenon that Georgia O’Keeffe had known as Synesthesia. Synesthesia is a perceptual experience in which stimulation in one sensory pathway triggers another experience in a second pathway. This is a perfect talent for a visionary detective to possess. And it’s not fiction! Georgia was a great listener to classical music. So, I might think when I see one of her paintings what music might she have been listening to that inspired the painting of The Grey Hills—was it Pablo Casals? Or perhaps something more tumultuous, Mahler Symphony number 9? For me Georgia O’Keeffe is an ultimate and compelling enigma and that was why I chose to write about her. And in doing so I am determined to remain faithful to the fiction of this character—Georgia Totto O’Keeffe.
QUOTED: "a good bet for upper middle-grade and early YA readers."
Lasky, Kathryn DAUGHTERS OF THE SEA Scholastic (Children's) $$16.99 Sep. 1, 2009 ISBN: 978-0-439-78310-1
Orphan Hannah Albury, 15, the engagingly demure yet plucky heroine, has always been drawn to the ocean. Hired as scullery maid by the Hawleys, a wealthy Boston family, she embarks on a journey to understand and fulfill her destiny. Hannah is attracted to the family's mysterious porcelain vases depicting sea creatures and even more so to Mr. Wheeler, an artist hired to paint the three Hawley daughters. He in turn hungers for and recognizes in Hannah what she doesn't yet grasp. Meanwhile, the Hawleys' psychotic eldest daughter, Lila, and her demonic cat, Jade, see Hannah as a threat; as she deciphers the secret of her identity, Hannah must ward off their perhaps supernatural attacks. The novel, first in a projected series, at first offers its early-20th-century history lesson in overly painstaking detail, especially the domestic staff hierarchy. Once Lila, Jade and Mr. Wheeler show up, the plot becomes gripping. A good bet for upper middle-grade and early YA readers. (Fantasy. 12 & up)
Copyright: COPYRIGHT 2009 Kirkus Media LLC
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"Lasky, Kathryn: DAUGHTERS OF THE SEA." Kirkus Reviews, 15 Aug. 2009. Gale General OneFile, link.gale.com/apps/doc/A208121667/ITOF?u=schlager&sid=bookmark-ITOF&xid=c88d3377. Accessed 1 Nov. 2024.
Two Bad Pilgrims.
By Kathryn Lasky. Illus. by John Manders.
Aug. 2009.40p. Viking, $16.99 (9780670061686). Gr. 2-4.
Lasky turns the notion that all Pilgrims were prim goody-goodies on its head by introducing the real-life Billington family, who were known aboard the Mayflower for "using foul language and for their generally poor behavior." A stuffy-looking professor narrates the half-fiction, half-nonfiction story of the Billington sons, Johnny and Francis, while weathering frequent pestering and asides from the reckless boys themselves. They get into all manner of trouble while stuck aboard the ship for so many months, and if anything, pick up their mischievous pace once settled in Plymouth. The comic-book style of the artwork--cartoony characters, speech balloons, and action broken up into panels--will help attract kids who may be resistant to history books. All the while, the boys' rascally antics make for a light and humorous tone that should keep attentions invested throughout. An obvious choice for early social studies units, this book does a solid job of showing, rather than just telling, that history can be more lively than it may seem. A fine author's note separates fact from fancy.--Ian Chipman
Copyright: COPYRIGHT 2009 American Library Association
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Chipman, Ian. "Two Bad Pilgrims." Booklist, vol. 105, no. 71, 1 July 2009, p. 61. Gale General OneFile, link.gale.com/apps/doc/A204920205/ITOF?u=schlager&sid=bookmark-ITOF&xid=19c7e701. Accessed 1 Nov. 2024.
Lasky, Kathryn POODLE AND HOUND Charlesbridge (Children's) $12.95 Jul. 1, 2009 ISBN: 978-1-58089-322-0
Friends Poodle and Hound learn to understand each other in three related short stories for new readers. At first, Poodle seems self-absorbed and overly concerned with her looks, but she ends up showing she's got a lot more on her mind. The first story, which lacks the clear plot of the others, might cause a new reader to give up, revolving as it does around the alarmed looks of a pair of corgis when a newly coiffed Poodle talks to herself in a restaurant. In the second, Hound loves to stargaze and wishes Poodle would stop distracting him from his calculations, but when she spins a fantastic tale about the moon and Saturn, Hound finds a new appreciation for her intelligence. In the last story, Poodle proves herself again when Hound is planting a vegetable garden and is not interested in planting flowers. Poodle uses her wits to plan a surprise attack on bugs that might attack the veggies and ends up with what she wanted all along. Vane's humorous watercolors, especially Poodle's creative outfits, add some depth to these stories, but they lack spark. (Early reader. 4-8)
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"Lasky, Kathryn: POODLE AND HOUND." Kirkus Reviews, 15 June 2009, p. NA. Gale General OneFile, link.gale.com/apps/doc/A208113950/ITOF?u=schlager&sid=bookmark-ITOF&xid=6582805f. Accessed 1 Nov. 2024.
Lasky, Kathryn GEORGIA RISES Melanie Kroupa/Farrar, Straus & Giroux (Children's) $16.95 Jun. 1, 2009 ISBN: 978-0-374-32529-9
Cast in the spirit of her evocative picture-book text for First Painter (illustrated by Rocco Baviera, 2000), veteran novelist and nonfiction writer Lasky offers an apt, poetic tribute to an American classic. Set in O'Keeffe's legendary retreat, Ghost Ranch, near Abiquiu, N.M., this brief introduction presents a representative day in the later life of the 20th-century painter. Meditative, atmospheric and quietly affecting paintings by the Hans Christian Andersen Award--nominated Israeli painter Eitan consistently evoke O'Keeffe's singular, curvilinear style and desert-inflected palette. Both author and illustrator employ a light yet meaning-rich touch; the text is spare, the accompanying images (some almost like playful spot art) evoke this unique American landscape and the intense inner life and rooted sensibility of this astounding artist. The book's quotidian approach is a clear choice--the author wants readers to know this woman through the simple accretion of daily details rather than through an ambitious, fact-driven narrative. Wonderfully understated, this is, on balance, a handsome and appealing complement to Jeanette Winter's more fact-based My Name Is Georgia: A Portrait (1998) or Rachel Rodriguez and Julie Paschkis's more inclusive Through Georgia's Eyes (2006). Includes a brief two-page biographical note with a reproduction of Rust Red Hills, ca. 1930. (author's note, selected bibliography, sources) (Picture book. 7-10)
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"Lasky, Kathryn: GEORGIA RISES." Kirkus Reviews, 15 May 2009, p. NA. Gale General OneFile, link.gale.com/apps/doc/A208111702/ITOF?u=schlager&sid=bookmark-ITOF&xid=9a2b4e3d. Accessed 1 Nov. 2024.
Lone Wolf.
By Kathryn Lasky.
Jan. 2010. 240p. Scholastic, $16.99 (9780545093101). Gr. 5-8.
The literary grandchildren of Richard Adams' Watership Down (1974) proliferate in this complex and nuanced talking-animal adventure. Lasky's descriptions of a newborn wolf pup's craving for light, milk, and meat are wonders of sensory economy--immediately you're invested in his struggle. But wolf custom decrees that he be abandoned to die because of a deformed paw. A childless bear named Thunderheart finds the pup and names him Faolan. Under her guidance, he grows to be unusually strong and savvy. Then a tragic event compels him to seek out his own kind. This is a soulful, searching read consumed with the spiritual journeys of animals and the ethereal connection between slayer and slain. At times it becomes mired in mythos, but when the story lets loose, it pays off, as when Faolan encounters a metal smithing owl (with connections to Lasky's Guardians of Ga'hoole series), who rights the wolf's crooked path. A sedate start to the Wolves of the Beyond series, perhaps, but with an invigorating ending that bodes well for the next volume.--Daniel Kraus
Copyright: COPYRIGHT 2009 American Library Association
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Kraus, Daniel. "Lone Wolf." Booklist, vol. 106, no. 7, 1 Dec. 2009, p. 45. Gale General OneFile, link.gale.com/apps/doc/A214101692/ITOF?u=schlager&sid=bookmark-ITOF&xid=44c04e69. Accessed 1 Nov. 2024.
QUOTED: "The personal and the political history will haunt readers."
Ashes.
By Kathryn Lasky.
Feb. 2010. 320p.Viking, $16.99 (9780670011575). Gr. 6-12.
In 1932 Berlin, blond 13-year-old Gabriella looks like the Aryan purists' ideal, but her strongly anti-Fascist family members are derisively called "white Jews," and her astrophysicist father is friends with Einstein, whose theory of relativity is termed "Jewish physics" by the Nazis. From Gabriella's viewpoint, Lasky tells a gripping story about Hitler's early rise to power, including the Germans' bitterness about their suffering after World War I. Though the filling in of background history sometimes feels slightly contrived, the story is strengthened by the complex, individual characters, such as the pro-Hitler maid who is tired of being poor; the beloved teacher, who wants Gabriella to be a Hitler Youth leader; and Gabriella's sister, who becomes pregnant while dating an ardent Nazi. Like Anne Frank, Gabriella loves American movie stars. She is also a big reader, and at the start of each chapter, there is a quote from authors such as Hemingway, Heine, London, Remarque, and Twain, whose books are among those publicly destroyed in the wild, historic book burning that is the climax of this story. From the opening quote, by Heine--"Where they burn books, they will end by burning human beings"--the personal and the political history will haunt readers.--Hazel Rochman
Copyright: COPYRIGHT 2010 American Library Association
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Rochman, Hazel. "Ashes." Booklist, vol. 106, no. 9-10, 1 Jan. 2010, p. 80. Gale General OneFile, link.gale.com/apps/doc/A216960092/ITOF?u=schlager&sid=bookmark-ITOF&xid=89c65d6a. Accessed 1 Nov. 2024.
QUOTED: "Lasky interweaves the personal and political with skill."
Ashes
by Kathryn Lasky
Middle School, High School Viking 318 pp.
2/10 978-0-670-01157-5 $16.99
Gaby Schramm is a child of privilege: her father, a professor at the University of Berlin, is Einstein's good friend; the Schramms' social circle includes celebrated Jewish newspaper columnist Baba Blumenthal and her highly placed connections. In 1932, political turmoil is leading inexorably to Nazi rule. While intellectuals anxiously debate their best course, Gaby observes other reactions: their pro-Hitler maid is smugly triumphant; an opportunistic teacher seizes her chance for power; brown-shirted thugs terrorize the streets. After a gang of boys forces Gaby and her best friend to return its "Hell Hitler," Gaby begins keeping a list of her private moments of shame, refuses to join the Hitler Youth, and finally leaves school in protest. Chapters are headed with telling quotes, notably from books by Hemingway, London, and Twain. In a horrifying culmination, in 1933 the Nazis burn all these books, along with Einstein's "Jewish science" and thousands of scholarly texts, in a mammoth pyre in the Opernplatz. Lasky interweaves the personal and political with skill, effectively explicating the complex history by reporting such significant events as the Reichstag fire and sampling the rising tide of wrongs, while also depicting--in well-researched detail--the comforts, loyalties, and Nazi-induced tribulations of a thoughtful and humane "Aryan" family. Lasky ends with Germany heading toward world war; of the Schramms' future, we see only their despairing flight from their homeland. A historical note introduces the book.
Copyright: COPYRIGHT 2010 A wholly owned subsidiary of Media Sources, Inc. No redistribution permitted.
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Long, Joanna Rudge. "Ashes." The Horn Book Magazine, vol. 86, no. 2, Mar.-Apr. 2010, pp. 62+. Gale General OneFile, link.gale.com/apps/doc/A221195374/ITOF?u=schlager&sid=bookmark-ITOF&xid=4d09b4d6. Accessed 1 Nov. 2024.
Felix Takes the Stage
Kathryn Lasky, illus, by Stephen Gilpin.
Scholastic Press, $15.99 (144p) ISBN 978-0-545-11681-7
Lasky (the Guardians of Ga'Hoole series) launches a new series, the Deadlies, centering on a family of toxic brown recluse spiders who feel misunderstood by humans. Felix, his worrywart mother, and two sisters flee their home in a Los Angeles philharmonic hall after the conductor spies (and wounds) Felix, and they know an exterminator will be summoned ("May Felix molt soon so his leg grows back?" prays Edith). Accompanied by a wise cat, the arachnids relocate to an antique shop, where they encounter spiders of various species and temperaments. Fear of an exterminator prompts another move, and they board a Boston-bound bus to live in a library. Lasky's prose strikes an excellent balance between naturalism and anthropomorphism (Gilpin's spirited cartoon illustrations tend toward the latter). Baseball cap-wearing Felix, an artist at heart, bristles at the necessarily reclusive nature of his species ("Should he be judged by the venom in his fangs?"). If the story meanders a bit as the spiders travel cross-country, readers will find plenty to enjoy in the frequently comic dialogue and well-integrated facts about spiders. Ages 7-9. (May)
Copyright: COPYRIGHT 2010 PWxyz, LLC
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"Felix Takes the Stage." Publishers Weekly, vol. 257, no. 19, 10 May 2010, pp. 44+. Gale General OneFile, link.gale.com/apps/doc/A226474913/ITOF?u=schlager&sid=bookmark-ITOF&xid=b4910b8f. Accessed 1 Nov. 2024.
Chasing Orion
by Kathryn Lasky
Intermediate, Middle School Candlewick 362 pp. 5/10 978-0-7636-3982-2 $17.99
During the height of the 1950s polio epidemic, Georgie obsesses about the disease. She knows the symptoms (all three stages); tallies the number of new cases in her hometown; and notes the deaths. Imagine her fascination when her family moves and she discovers that her new teenage neighbor, Phyllis, is in an iron lung. At first Georgie is curious, then she's thrilled to be part of Phyllis's environment--one in which this beautiful girl manipulates a set of mirrors that define her line of vision and her world. Georgie builds dioramas of miniature scenes as a hobby, while her brother Emmett, an amateur stargazer, studies the night skies. In a powerful series of metaphors, Georgie crafts her worlds, Emmett observes the universe, and Phyllis is trapped in hers. But is Phyllis a helpless prisoner, or is she like a spider at the center of a web reaching out for prey? Does she want more from Georgie than friendship and more from Emmett than mere flirtation? Georgie wonders, and with a voice slightly older than her eleven years, debates scientific progress and questions whether an iron lung saves or traps a life. While the historical setting may be foreign to today's readers, Georgie's loneliness and her search for answers are universal. BETTY CARTER
Copyright: COPYRIGHT 2010 A wholly owned subsidiary of Media Sources, Inc. No redistribution permitted.
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Carter, Betty. "Chasing Orion." The Horn Book Magazine, vol. 86, no. 4, July-Aug. 2010, p. 113. Gale General OneFile, link.gale.com/apps/doc/A231092443/ITOF?u=schlager&sid=bookmark-ITOF&xid=bcdfcc70. Accessed 1 Nov. 2024.
QUOTED: "intriguing."
Silk & Venom: Searching for a Dangerous Spider.
By Kathryn Lasky. Illus. by Christopher G. Knight.
Feb. 2011. 64p. Candlewick, $16.99 (9780763642228). 595.4. Gr. 5-8.
Lasky and Knight, the writer and photographer who created books such as Surtsey: The Newest Place on Earth (1992) and Interrupted Journey: Saving Endangered Sea Turtles (2001), now introduce arachnologist Greta Binford and the spiders she studies. Beginning with a close look at spiders, the book discusses Binford's childhood interest in the natural world as well as her research on Loxosceles spiders, carried on in her lab at Lewis and Clark College and on a field trip to the Dominican Republic. There, she and two students collect spiders that may help answer questions about the migration of their ancestors millions of years ago. Many excellent color photos and clearly drawn maps illustrate the text, which creates an appealing portrayal of the scientist and her fascination with her work. Source lists of books and websites are appended along with a glossary of spiders that includes small photos, scientific and common names, and page references. Pair this intriguing book with Sy Montgomery's Tarantula Scientist (2004).--Carolyn Phelan
Copyright: COPYRIGHT 2011 American Library Association
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Phelan, Carolyn. "Silk & Venom: Searching for a Dangerous Spider." Booklist, vol. 107, no. 12, 15 Feb. 2011, p. 66. Gale General OneFile, link.gale.com/apps/doc/A250214904/ITOF?u=schlager&sid=bookmark-ITOF&xid=7491ca10. Accessed 1 Nov. 2024.
Silk & Venom:
Searching for a Dangerous Spider
by Kathryn Lasky;
photos by Christopher G. Knight
Intermediate, Middle School Candlewick 64 pp.
2/11 978-0-7636-4222-8 $16.99
After presenting a brief but informative overview of spider fundamentals, Lasky shadows arachnologist Greta Binford as she investigates key questions about Loxosceles spiders in North and South America. The details of Binford's school and college years easily portray her as a regular person--interested in athletics and cheerleading as well as science and nature, and eager to take on opportunities like the field assistantship in college that solidified her career focus. Currently, Binford's work involves both controlled experiments in her research laboratory at Lewis and Clark College and field-based data collection in the Dominican Republic. Lasky attentively explains the research in absorbing detail, clearly showing how each piece of data is pulled together to provide evidence for the migration and evolution of these spider species. This care extends to the numerous color photographs and diagrams that portray Binford and her meticulous research techniques in and out of the lab, the spiders themselves, and the people--students, scientists, and children--who find them fascinating. With a glossary, sources, list of websites, and an index.
Copyright: COPYRIGHT 2011 A wholly owned subsidiary of Media Sources, Inc. No redistribution permitted.
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Ford, Danielle J. "Silk & Venom: Searching for a Dangerous Spider." The Horn Book Magazine, vol. 87, no. 2, Mar.-Apr. 2011, p. 140. Gale General OneFile, link.gale.com/apps/doc/A249684572/ITOF?u=schlager&sid=bookmark-ITOF&xid=7c4e2643. Accessed 1 Nov. 2024.
QUOTED: "Lasky's novel will appeal to teens who enjoy a light fantasy mixed with romance."
4Q * 4P * M * J Lasky, Kathryn. May (Daughters of the Sea). Scholastic, 2011. 336p. $17.99. 978978-0-439-78311-8.
In 1883, Edgar Plum, the lighthouse keeper from Egg Rock, Maine, finds a baby girl floating in a sea-chest near the wreck of H.M.S. Resolute. May lives a restricted life in the dark lighthouse where she is expected to wait on Edgar's vindictive, hypochondriac wife, Hepzibah. But in 1898 everything changes. May, who has been forbidden to swim, witnesses a man drowning and realizes that she has an intuitive knowledge of the sea and could have saved him. When she discovers that Gar and Hepzibah are not her parents and opens the chest containing her baby blanket and charts marking the Resolute's last position, she determines to study the geography of the sea so as to locate the wreck and solve the mystery of her birth. As she turns sixteen, however, there are other distractions: Rudd, the young "predatory" fisherman and Hugh, an astronomy student from Harvard with whom May falls in love.
As in the first book in her mermaid series, Hannah (Scholastic, 2009), Lasky writes about a young woman who hears the call of the sea. May's joyful transformation as she swims in the "colorful underwater tapestry" of the ocean and her struggle with her identity as a mermaid when she worries that Hugh will see her as less than human are powerfully written. Lasky deftly joins Hannah's and May's stories together when they meet and realize that they are sisters. Appropriate for all teen collections, Lasky's novel will appeal to teens who enjoy a light fantasy mixed with romance.--Hilary Crew.
Copyright: COPYRIGHT 2011 E L Kurdyla Publishing LLC
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Crew, Hilary. "Lasky, Kathryn. May (Daughters of the Sea)." Voice of Youth Advocates, vol. 34, no. 2, June 2011, p. 188. Gale General OneFile, link.gale.com/apps/doc/A259296339/ITOF?u=schlager&sid=bookmark-ITOF&xid=13b92435. Accessed 1 Nov. 2024.
QUOTED: "both thoughtful and action-packed."
Lasky, Kathryn THE RISE OF A LEGEND Scholastic (Children's Fiction) $16.99 8, 1 ISBN: 978-0-545-50978-7
The Guardians of Ga'Hoole gets a prequel, with the history of one of the Great Tree's rybs, Ezylryb. Lyze, a young whiskered screech owl, is born into the Northern Kingdoms, where war is as much a part of life as a young owl's First Meat ceremony. His parents, veterans of the battle against Bylyric and his Ice Talons, expect their young hatchling to grow up to be a soldier, but Lyze is reluctant to step into that role. The death of his beloved younger sister in a raid changes everything. He begins to apply his mind to the finer points of war, focusing on the elements of weather and battle strategy. He further suggests adding snakes and snow leopards to their ranks. However, Lyze quickly learns that victory comes at a heavy price. Lyze's journey from egg to warrior to ryb enriches the mythology of Ga'Hoole, but it also serves as an unflinching commentary on the ravages of war. While this will undoubtedly appeal to the ardent followers of the series, Lyze's story can be read easily as a stand-alone tale. Both thoughtful and action-packed, this adventure illuminates the fantastical world that exists between dusk and dawn. (Fantasy. 8-12)
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"Lasky, Kathryn: THE RISE OF A LEGEND." Kirkus Reviews, 1 June 2013. Gale General OneFile, link.gale.com/apps/doc/A331669634/ITOF?u=schlager&sid=bookmark-ITOF&xid=d4eb6905. Accessed 1 Nov. 2024.
QUOTED: "The touching story of survival carries readers over the occasional infelicities."
Lasky, Kathryn THE EXTRA Candlewick (Children's Fiction) $16.99 10, 8 ISBN: 978-0-7636-3972-3
The rarely told story of the Nazi genocide of the Romani people unfolds through the eyes of a heavily fictionalized "film slave," a Romani girl forced into service as an extra in a Leni Riefenstahl film. Lilo is 15 when the Nazis cart her family off to a concentration camp. She'd assumed they were safe--settled, urban, skilled Sinti, unlike Roma who traveled in caravans and were easier targets of bigotry. But there's no safety in Buchenwald or Maxglan, where her mother is the subject of sadistic procedures and her father vanishes in the night. In a stroke of luck, she's taken to be a forced extra, a film slave in the backdrop of Leni Riefenstahl's film Tiefland. Along with the other Romani imprisoned by Riefenstahl, Lilo fights to stay alive in circumstances less extreme than the camps but still horrific. Filmmaking details provide a unique flavor in a tragic story that's otherwise all too familiar. Amid death and torment, Lilo encounters unexpectedly frequent sparks of human decency. Conveyed in at-times overly expository prose, Lilo's story is fiction laid upon the life of actual Romani Holocaust survivor Anna Blach. Context is provided by a deeply problematic author's note, which dedicates more than four pages to Riefenstahl but only three sentences to the modern Romani, mentioning neither the modern reality of anti-Romani bigotry nor the simple fact that "Gypsy" (used through the note as synonymous with "Romani") is now considered pejorative and should be avoided. In the end, the touching story of survival carries readers over the occasional infelicities. (Historical fiction. 12-16)
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"Lasky, Kathryn: THE EXTRA." Kirkus Reviews, 1 Sept. 2013. Gale General OneFile, link.gale.com/apps/doc/A341243618/ITOF?u=schlager&sid=bookmark-ITOF&xid=1ef586ae. Accessed 1 Nov. 2024.
QUOTED: "Lasky's accessible style balances the grim realities of a Nazi camp with a girl's enduring will to survive."
Lasky, Kathryn. The Extra. Candlewick, 2013. 320p. $16.99. 978-0-7636-3972-3.
As Lilo walks home from school with a friend, they are wondering why a classmate has disappeared. Since the Nuremberg Laws were passed, another Gypsy girl has gone too. Then, the jackbooted officers knock on Lilo's door, and she and her parents are taken away to a labor camp. Ironically, the movie maker Leni Riefenstahl, admired by Lilo's father before the Nazi take-over, appears at Lilo's camp looking for extras to play parts in a film she is making. She chooses Lilo. For a time, Lilo enjoys slightly better treatment on the fringe of Riefenstahl's make-believe world. The brutality goes on, however, and Lilo realizes that to live she must escape.
The story begins, as so many about Nazism do, with a picture of Lilo's family life that is soon to end: her parents are respected and skilled artisans who love her and are concerned about her progress in school. Too soon, normalcy is gone forever as they enter Nazi camps. Lasky's introduction of a historical character, who really was Hitler's favorite filmmaker, gives a unique twist to an otherwise oft-told tale. Her characters are well realized, as well: Leni Reifenstahl's veneer of kindness over her cruelty, Lilo's precocious maturity, her mother's helplessness, a guard who dares to help. Touches of humor provided by a camp-smart boy offer a little relief. Above all, Lasky's accessible style balances the grim realities of a Nazi camp with a girl's enduring will to survive--a girl who comes of age among some of history's greatest horrors.--Marla Unruh.
This reviewer enjoyed this book because it helped with understanding the Nazis from a new perspective. Not only Jews but also Gypsies were put into concentration camps, and Lilo was a Gypsy who lost everything, yet maintained her hope that she would someday find her freedom again. Teens who would enjoy this book are those who like history and who also like a good story. 5Q, 4P.--Austin Bell, Teen Reviewer.
Copyright: COPYRIGHT 2013 E L Kurdyla Publishing LLC
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Unruh, Marla, and Austin Bell. "Lasky, Kathryn. The Extra." Voice of Youth Advocates, vol. 36, no. 4, Oct. 2013, p. 67. Gale General OneFile, link.gale.com/apps/doc/A347403632/ITOF?u=schlager&sid=bookmark-ITOF&xid=8e940b8b. Accessed 1 Nov. 2024.
Lasky, Kathryn THE ESCAPE Scholastic (Children's Fiction) $16.99 1, 7 ISBN: 978-0-545-39716-2
Born in the hold of a Spanish galleon destined for the New World, the young filly Estrella knows nothing of the feel of the earth under her hooves or the joy of the pasture, but her mother's soft murmurings hint at a greater destiny for the young horse and her friends. Determined to lighten their load and save their quest for gold, the sailors dump the horses overboard. Perlina, Estrella's dam, exhorts them to swim for the nearby island, but a hungry shark has other plans for her filly. Perlina sacrifices herself for the herd, but her life is not her only gift. Before dying, she gives Estrella a vision of freedom. It falls to Estrella, the youngest of the surviving horses, to inspire the others to journey toward the promise of a life without masters where the sweet grass grows. As in works such as her Guardians of Ga'hoole series, Lasky uses animals to touch on very human issues. The herd must face the cost of freedom and the adversity that comes with the pursuit of one's dreams. Complex and distinctive characters offer a fresh view of familiar historical events. A promising start to a new series. (author's note, map) (Historical fantasy. 8-12)
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"Lasky, Kathryn: THE ESCAPE." Kirkus Reviews, 15 Dec. 2013. Gale General OneFile, link.gale.com/apps/doc/A352605841/ITOF?u=schlager&sid=bookmark-ITOF&xid=5a7f5be0. Accessed 1 Nov. 2024.
QUOTED: "Both the concept and the well-paced suspense will appeal."
Lasky, Kathryn MORE THAN MAGIC Wendy Lamb/Random (Children's Fiction) $16.99 9, 27 ISBN: 978-0-553-49891-2
Ryder has just turned 11, the same age as the cartoon character created by her years-dead mother, and learns that she can enter the cartoon world--and possibly save it.Ryder's mom, a brilliant animator, based her main character, Rory, on Ryder. Rory is a swashbuckling girl adventurer in an extremely popular cartoon series, soon to be a film. Now Ryder's dad is interested in nasty Bernice, who wants to make the film Rory into a sappy princess with a vapid magic wand instead of a scrappy slingshot. Scandalized, Ryder doesn't know what to do until Rory herself steps out of the TV and invites Ryder into her world, Ecalpon ("No Place"). There they team up with Ryder's nerdy Jewish friend, Eli, to change the movie back to the original concept. Ryder, Rory, and Eli enlist the aid of Connie, Bernice's one likable daughter. Inhabiting the wireframe layer of the animation, the children learn they can drag artwork from the trash to re-create the original drawings. But can they win the race against time to save Rory and the film? Alternating narration among Ryder, Rory, and minor characters in Ecalpon, Lasky creates her own absorbing magical world, neatly folding it around a story of friendship. The cast is not notably diverse; with the possible exception of Connie, they all seem to be white. Both the concept and the well-paced suspense will appeal. (Fantasy. 8-12)
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"Lasky, Kathryn: MORE THAN MAGIC." Kirkus Reviews, 1 June 2016. Gale General OneFile, link.gale.com/apps/doc/A454177115/ITOF?u=schlager&sid=bookmark-ITOF&xid=ff70c801. Accessed 1 Nov. 2024.
QUOTED: "may inspire readers to share Newton's interest in the world around them."
Lasky, Kathryn NEWTON'S RAINBOW Farrar, Straus and Giroux (Children's Picture Books) $17.99 4, 18 ISBN: 978-0-374-35513-5
The story of how Isaac Newton, a lackluster student at the bottom of his class, became one of the most influential scientists in history. "If I have seen further, it is because I have stood on the shoulders of giants," Newton said when asked how he could see and understand things that others didn't. Galileo and Kepler were two of those giants, and a page is devoted to each in the course of this colorful treatment of the young scientist. Newton may have not been a stellar student, but he was interested in the world around him--the bloodsucking leeches and frogs' livers used by the local apothecary, why apples fall down and not up or sideways, and why planets move. Lasky's eye for the telling detail and Hawkes' child-friendly illustrations capture the young Isaac Newton's school days and his creative work during the bubonic plague and the Great Fire of London. However, the pages are dense with text, and in trying to make Newton's complex ideas accessible to young readers, Lasky occasionally resorts to textbook-speak: "He was already using the laws of motion, laws that he would later explain and that form the basis of modern physics." Overall, though, text and art work well together to portray Newton's curiosity and sense of wonder. A lively (if unusually lengthy for the format) volume that may inspire readers to share Newton's interest in the world around them. (bibliography) (Picture book/biography. 6-10)
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"Lasky, Kathryn: NEWTON'S RAINBOW." Kirkus Reviews, 15 Jan. 2017. Gale General OneFile, link.gale.com/apps/doc/A477242414/ITOF?u=schlager&sid=bookmark-ITOF&xid=f0014feb. Accessed 1 Nov. 2024.
QUOTED: "genial biography."
Newton's Rainbow: The Revolutionary Discoveries of a Young Scientist.
By Kathryn Lasky. Illus. by Kevin Hawkes.
Apr. 2017. 48p. Farrar, $17.99 (9780374355135). 530.092. Gr. 2-4.
Grabbing the attention of young readers from the get-go, the award-winning duo presents seven chronological vignettes in the life of Isaac Newton. Lasky's appealing narrative zeroes in on Newton's curiosity and hunger to learn about the world--characteristics likely to resonate with children today. Young readers will come away with plenty of facts about the scientist, but they also might chuckle at his antics and absentmindedness, like his disastrous shepherding skills or his sneaky use of a gust of wind to help him win a jumping competition. Hawkes' detailed mixed-media depictions include facial expressions aptly capturing Newton's inquisitiveness and incessant preoccupation with the sky. All of his wondering comes to a head when he's stuck at home during London's bubonic plague, and the isolation gives him an opportunity to formulate some of his most iconic theories, such as his discovery of the rainbow spectrum of visible light. Relatively dense text makes this better suited for more advanced readers, but younger inquiring minds could be equally delighted by listening to this genial biography read out loud.--Anita Lock
Copyright: COPYRIGHT 2017 American Library Association
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Lock, Anita. "Newton's Rainbow: The Revolutionary Discoveries of a Young Scientist." Booklist, vol. 113, no. 11, 1 Feb. 2017, pp. 33+. Gale General OneFile, link.gale.com/apps/doc/A481244838/ITOF?u=schlager&sid=bookmark-ITOF&xid=fa20774e. Accessed 1 Nov. 2024.
QUOTED: "a fast-paced slice of history for younger teens."
Lasky, Kathryn NIGHT WITCHES Scholastic (Children's Fiction) $17.99 3, 28 ISBN: 978-0-545-68298-5
A rarely told story of sisterhood, passion, and survival during World War II.Valya, 16, has always struggled with feelings of jealousy toward her older sister, Tatyana. When their mother allows Tatyana to join the Soviet military and become a Night Witch, a fighter pilot of the 588th Regiment, and forces Valya to stay home, it is almost too much for Valya to bear. A naturally skilled flier, taught by her father, she knows she was born for the sky and feels her talents are desperately wasted on the ground: Stalingrad in 1941 is besieged on three sides by Nazi forces, and she knows she could make a difference. When her mother and grandmother are killed and her father declared MIA, Valya's time arrives, and she starts her journey to become a Night Witch. Occasional infodumps slow the narrative momentum but provide interesting context to readers who may not be familiar with the Soviet Union's involvement in World War II. Repeated references to American and British children's literature feel forced and clunky in Valya's first-person narration, and oddly absent are either ideological commentary on them or references to beloved Russian children's literature. Though this inevitably begs comparison to Code Name Verity, it's a different book: a fast-paced slice of history for younger teens. Despite quibbles, it's sure to satisfy fans of Carolyn Meyer, Dear America, and Lasky's own previous World War II fiction. (Historical fiction. 12-15)
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"Lasky, Kathryn: NIGHT WITCHES." Kirkus Reviews, 15 Jan. 2017, p. NA. Gale General OneFile, link.gale.com/apps/doc/A477242351/ITOF?u=schlager&sid=bookmark-ITOF&xid=12e71aac. Accessed 1 Nov. 2024.
QUOTED: "The daring young women are all dynamically well rounded."
Night Witches.
By Kathryn Lasky.
Apr. 2017. 224p. Scholastic, $17.99 (9780545682985). Gr. 8-11.
While Valya's hunkered down in the bombed-out shell of her Stalingrad home, she's desperate to join her sister, a pilot with the Night Witches, named for their relentless, near-silent nighttime attacks on Nazi troops. After a few daring escapes, Valya makes her way to the temporary airfield where her sister is stationed. Much to her chagrin, Valya ends up stuck among the ground crew, but before long, she and her fellow aviatrixes flit though the sky, dodging bulky German planes and bombing supply reserves and searchlights. Though her prose is occasionally florid and moments of expository dialogue seem shoehorned in, Lasky shines when describing the Witches' bombing missions and amplifies the suspense when Valya is shot down behind enemy lines. The daring young women are all dynamically well rounded, particularly Valya, who oscillates between caring for and competing with her sister. Perhaps most thrilling of all is that the Night Witches were a real, all-women regiment, a fact that might encourage young readers to seek out the history of these daredevil heroes.--Sarah Hunter
Copyright: COPYRIGHT 2017 American Library Association
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Hunter, Sarah. "Night Witches." Booklist, vol. 113, no. 11, 1 Feb. 2017, p. 48. Gale General OneFile, link.gale.com/apps/doc/A481244881/ITOF?u=schlager&sid=bookmark-ITOF&xid=e8e8d810. Accessed 1 Nov. 2024.
QUOTED: "Lasky's authentic frozen setting and dynamic animal characters will capture readers' imaginations."
The Quest of the Cubs.
By Kathryn Lasky.
Feb. 2018. 240p. Scholastic, $16.99 (9780545683043); e-book, $16.99 (9780545683074). Gr. 3-6.
This first volume of Lasky's new animal fantasy series, Bears of Ice, whisks readers back to the world of Guardians of Ga'Hoole. When cub-snatching bears called Roguers come to steal polar bear Svenna's two unnamed one-year-old cubs, she trades herself for their freedom. Left with a distant cousin, the cubs quickly learn this relative will treat them harshly, and they flee. Despite near starvation and harrowing escapes, they search for their mother and their unknown father, and they name themselves--the girl, Jytte, the boy, Stellan--after stars in the constellation of their parents. With help from unlikely animals, the cubs make their way toward the Far North, where they face grave danger from the Roguers. Readers will lose themselves in the Iife-and-death adventure of the cubs and succumb to human feelings of fear, loss, and hope. Lasky's authentic frozen setting and dynamic animal characters will capture readers' imaginations and allow them to suspend reality. They'll be waiting with bated breath for the next installment. --J. B. Petty
Copyright: COPYRIGHT 2017 American Library Association
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Petty, J.B. "The Quest of the Cubs." Booklist, vol. 114, no. 5, 1 Nov. 2017, pp. 58+. Gale General OneFile, link.gale.com/apps/doc/A515383071/ITOF?u=schlager&sid=bookmark-ITOF&xid=e7e2792b. Accessed 1 Nov. 2024.
QUOTED: "Nature, magic, and legend combine to create a world like no other."
Lasky, Kathryn THE QUEST OF THE CUBS Scholastic (Children's Fiction) $16.99 2, 27 ISBN: 978-0-545-68304-3
When mercenaries serving an evil cult come to abduct two polar bear cubs, their mother offers herself in exchange for their freedom.
Barely into their second season, the cubs known only as First and Second must fend for themselves in a harsh, frozen land. But while predators, hunger, and weather are constant threats, the two young cubs discover that there are surprising friends willing to help them on their quest to find not only their missing mother, but their estranged father. Even with help from Lago, a Nunquivik fox who shares her hunt, or Jameson, a seal whose quick thinking helps them escape from a pod of hungry killer whales, the cubs must draw on their own resources if they are to survive the journey. Scattered chapters tell of their mother's captivity at the hands of a cult of bears who worship a giant clock. Lasky once again invites readers into a world where the natural and the supernatural intersect. And while the world of the ice-bound north is beautiful, this is also a cautionary tale about the dangers of mechanization and the tendency to confuse the divine with the profane.
Nature, magic, and legend combine to create a world like no other. (Fantasy. 9-12)
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"Lasky, Kathryn: THE QUEST OF THE CUBS." Kirkus Reviews, 15 Nov. 2017. Gale General OneFile, link.gale.com/apps/doc/A514267742/ITOF?u=schlager&sid=bookmark-ITOF&xid=f222213d. Accessed 1 Nov. 2024.
QUOTED: "proof that a sequel can shine just as brightly."
Lasky, Kathryn THE DEN OF FOREVER FROST Scholastic (Children's Fiction) $16.99 10, 9 ISBN: 978-0-545-83688-3
In a race against time, young polar bear cubs travel the icy north searching for a way to rescue their land from an evil cult and save the world from a cataclysm.
Following the events of Quest of the Cubs (2017), young Jytte, Stellan, and Third travel the dangerous wild with only ancient stories and an outdated map as a guide. Chased by Roguer bears collecting cubs to sacrifice to the great Ice Clock, they attempt to find their estranged father and beg his help. Aided by wood frogs, frost spiders, and a mysterious spirit bear, the three cubs face predators, natural disasters, and their own waning beliefs. Meanwhile, their mother, Svenna, enslaved by the Mystress of the Chimes, attempts to work from within to bring down the doomsday cult and find her missing cubs. Violence is minimal, but child abuse, child sacrifice, religious cleansing, and torture are all real threats in the northern kingdom. Calm and calculating Jytte, emotional and passionate Stellan, and deep and mystical Third are all complicated heroes. Pride, depression, and guilt prove to be as difficult to defeat as the cult, but the three cubs bring humility, hope, and forgiveness as they travel. Nonstop action, overwhelming odds, and a truly evil adversary will make readers clamor for the next installment. Occasional double-page-spread art (not seen) acts as a transitional device.
Proof that a sequel can shine just as brightly. (map) (Fantasy. 8-12)
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"Lasky, Kathryn: THE DEN OF FOREVER FROST." Kirkus Reviews, 15 Aug. 2018. Gale General OneFile, link.gale.com/apps/doc/A549923923/ITOF?u=schlager&sid=bookmark-ITOF&xid=055280eb. Accessed 1 Nov. 2024.
QUOTED: "Lasky's brilliant imagery of the fantasy ice world and her believably strong, determined bears won't disappoint readers."
The Den of Forever Frost.
By Kathryn Lasky.
Oct. 2018. 256p. Scholastic, $16.99 (9780545838085). Gr. 3-6.
Bear cub siblings Jytte and Stellan, and their friend Third, continue their perilous journey to find their father and the Den of Forever Frost. Aided by unlikely animals and insects, they traverse harsh terrain, slide through ice tunnels, and evade menacing, venomous critters. A surprise encounter with Froya, Third's sister, causes him to question her trustworthiness. Meanwhile, their mother, Svenna, longs for her cubs as she slaves for the Mystress of the Chimes, though she's found a mission in helping the gillygaskins (ghost cubs mutilated by the Ice Clock). When her cubs finally come face-to-face with their father, Svern, they are distraught. How can this old, defeated bear help them maneuver the Den of Forever Frost and find the key to the Ice Clock? In this second of the Bears of the Ice series, Lasky's brilliant imagery of the fantasy ice world and her believably strong, determined bears won't disappoint readers. The final paragraph brings sighs and silence as the bears contemplate the completion of their quest in the series' next book. --J. B. Petty
Copyright: COPYRIGHT 2018 American Library Association
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Petty, J.B. "The Den of Forever Frost." Booklist, vol. 115, no. 4, 15 Oct. 2018, pp. 53+. Gale General OneFile, link.gale.com/apps/doc/A559688211/ITOF?u=schlager&sid=bookmark-ITOF&xid=c20dbc1c. Accessed 1 Nov. 2024.
Lasky, Kathryn THE PORTAL Harper/HarperCollins (Children's Fiction) $16.99 3, 19 ISBN: 978-0-06-269325-9
A "time gypsy," 11-year-old Rose travels between 21st-century Indianapolis and 16th-century England searching for her father.
Budding fashionista Rose designs clothing and writes a popular fashion blog. She's never known her father, so following her mother's untimely death, Rose goes to live with her slightly dotty grandmother, who treats her with "general indifference." At school she's immediately targeted by the Mean Queens, a trio of cruel girls known for destructive bullying. Drawn to her grandmother's otherworldly Tudor-style greenhouse, Rose tumbles backward in time to Hatfield, home of Princess Elizabeth, banished daughter of Henry VIII. Hired as Elizabeth's chambermaid, Rose finds herself embroiled in palace politics. When she receives a locket containing a modern photo of her with her mother and an unidentified man, Rose suspects he could be her father. Toggling between contemporary life with her grandmother and 16th-century life searching for her father, Rose fits amazingly (even incredibly) well into past and present, growing especially close with dairymaid Franny. Diary entries, letters, blog posts, and photos add pizzazz. A strong subtext comparing contemporary teen bullying to Tudor mockery of court dwarfs and fools proves relevant, though the term "gypsy" goes unquestioned. The ending offers a revelation about Franny and leaves Rose in the 16th century, ripe for further adventure.
A convincing, compelling new time-travel series rife with Tudor drama. (Fantasy. 8-12)
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"Lasky, Kathryn: THE PORTAL." Kirkus Reviews, 15 Nov. 2018. Gale General OneFile, link.gale.com/apps/doc/A561923161/ITOF?u=schlager&sid=bookmark-ITOF&xid=9af2a5ec. Accessed 1 Nov. 2024.
Lasky, Kathryn SHE CAUGHT THE LIGHT Harper/HarperCollins (Children's None) $18.99 1, 19 ISBN: 978-0-06-284930-4
A scientific dreamer grounded in hard work.
Poetic, accessible text combines with intricate, appealing illustrations to portray Williamina Stevens Fleming (1857-1911), talented astronomer, resilient and highly intelligent individual, and the first woman given an official title (curator of astronomical photographs) at Harvard University. Her early years are gracefully depicted (her exposure to the magic of chemistry and light via her photographer father; her job teaching at age 14 after his death; how she left Dundee, Scotland, in order to marry and move to Cambridge, Massachusetts), leading up to her husband’s disappearance and her path to astronomy. Alone and expecting a child, she secured a job as a maid in the home of the director of the Harvard College Observatory, where she asked questions, absorbed information, and was eventually hired to study and calculate the colors produced by stars and recorded by the observatory. Her discoveries and her love of astronomy rise to the surface and will inspire an interest in young readers and listeners while the struggles and inequities she faced—raising a child alone, subsisting on low wages, not being allowed to use a telescope out of spurious concern for her health—show the difficulties she dealt with as a woman of the time and how she paved the way for others. Swaney’s delicate cartoons depict Fleming in Edwardian garb, a White woman amid an almost all-White cast. (This book was reviewed digitally with 11-by-18-inch double-page spreads viewed at 57.4% of actual size.)
Both an intriguing introduction to astronomy and an involving tale of a strong woman who overcame adversity. (timeline, glossary, biographical note, author’s note, bibliography) (Picture book/biography. 6-10)
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"Lasky, Kathryn: SHE CAUGHT THE LIGHT." Kirkus Reviews, 15 Oct. 2020. Gale General OneFile, link.gale.com/apps/doc/A638165946/ITOF?u=schlager&sid=bookmark-ITOF&xid=7a3682a9. Accessed 1 Nov. 2024.
QUOTED: "With a well-detailed historical backdrop and a puzzling familial mystery, this novel delivers intrigue via tense scenes."
Kathryn Lasky. HarperCollins, $16.99 (304p) ISBN 978-0-06-269331-0
Set during WWII, Newbery Honoree Lasky's intense historical drama follows a white family of spies whose tradition of serving Great Britain dates back to Henry VIII. Thirteen-year-old Alice Winfield has for years trained for her first A-level mission, and her celebrated older sister, Louise, once promised to be her guide. But when Louise opts out of the family business, only Alice and her mother join the teens' undercover father on a secret mission in Berlin: taking down Hitler. Upon arrival, Alice becomes Ute, a German girl "certified to be... Aryan, with no contamination of foreign blood." As Alice works to achieve high marks in school and remain as unnoticeable and unmemorable as the "tabula rasas" from which she is descended, she finds herself dangerously drawn to an unhoused boy. With a well-detailed historical backdrop and a puzzling familial mystery, this novel delivers intrigue via tense scenes involving Hitler himself. Albeit fictional, this up-close glimpse at the historical figure's inner circle and last days centers an unnervingly calm protagonist maintaining an elaborate ruse while navigating the increasingly dangerous streets of Berlin, where knowing who is friend and foe determines survival. Ages 8-12. Agent: Brenda Bowen, the Book Group. (Oct.)
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"Faceless." Publishers Weekly, vol. 268, no. 36, 6 Sept. 2021, pp. 91+. Gale General OneFile, link.gale.com/apps/doc/A675525135/ITOF?u=schlager&sid=bookmark-ITOF&xid=96284562. Accessed 1 Nov. 2024.
QUOTED: "fascinating and riveting, especially for history buffs and spy aficionados."
Lasky, Kathryn FACELESS Harper/HarperCollins (Children's None) $16.99 10, 19 ISBN: 978-0-06-269331-0
Spying for the British in the final years of World War II, 13-year-old English girl Alice Winfield embarks on a dangerous mission to Berlin.
Involved in British spying for centuries, the Winfields are Rasas, or agents with perfectly proportioned, forgettable faces, ideal for espionage. Alice's mother is a veteran Rasa spy for MI6, her father's an operative stationed in Berlin, and her 19-year-old sister, Louise, has been trusted with complex missions. When Louise suddenly resigns and has plastic surgery to alter her face, Alice feels lost. Parachuting into Germany with her mother to join her father in Berlin on her first top-level mission, Alice poses as a schoolgirl. Winning a coveted Reich Praktikum, or student internship, in Hitler's household, she goes everywhere the Führer goes, observing and reporting back about his mental state as part of an assassination plot. With the Allies approaching, clever Alice tries to fulfill her mission, secretly help a homeless Jewish boy, uncover the mystery of Louise's sudden appearance in Germany, and remain inconspicuous while surrounded by enemies. Alice's behind-the-scenes position within the epicenter of Nazi power during the final days of the war provides an intriguing perspective on Nazi luminaries, 1940s German student life, wartime deprivations in Berlin, Nazi xenophobia and racial theory, and the excitement and danger of being a wartime spy. Repeated themes of identity and references to Wagner's Ring cycle prove effective. Characters read as White.
Fascinating and riveting, especially for history buffs and spy aficionados. (historical notes) (Historical fiction. 9-13)
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"Lasky, Kathryn: FACELESS." Kirkus Reviews, 15 Sept. 2021, p. NA. Gale General OneFile, link.gale.com/apps/doc/A675150078/ITOF?u=schlager&sid=bookmark-ITOF&xid=6eeb6df7. Accessed 1 Nov. 2024.
QUOTED: "a charming picture book that blends two rarely combined cultures."
Lasky, Kathryn YOSSEL'S JOURNEY Charlesbridge (Children's None) $18.99 9, 6 ISBN: 978-1-62354-176-7
In the 19th-century American Southwest, a Jewish boy from Russia befriends a Navajo boy.
Yossel's family is fleeing Russia to avoid the soldiers of the czar. They sail first to New York, then take a train to Topeka and another to Santa Fe, and finally travel by horse-drawn covered freight wagon to a Navajo reservation. Uncle Izzy left Yossel's family his trading post when he died, and now they're responsible for selling "coffee and beans and seed" to their neighbors. Eight-year-old Yossel learns some English and Navajo from listening to the customers but doesn't speak to anyone until he meets Thomas, a Navajo boy. Stylized illustrations depict the boys playing with Star Eye the sheep, eating blintzes, and having a sleepover at Thomas' hogan. Yazzie's warm acrylics in bright pinks, blues, and yellows paint the setting in the colors of desert sunshine (even Russia and New York seem Southwestern, with New York homes that "rub shoulders" illustrated as pink-trimmed, greenery-draped, single-story cottages). Given Yossel's history as someone forced to flee his home due to ethnic violence, it's a surprise to see none of the parallel story for Thomas (during roughly the time of the forced deportation of the Navajo by the U.S. government). Instead, this is a pleasing, sun-drenched tale of friendship in a new place. (This book was reviewed digitally.)
Though not without a misstep, this is a charming picture book that blends two rarely combined cultures. (author's note, further reading) (Picture book. 4-7)
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"Lasky, Kathryn: YOSSEL'S JOURNEY." Kirkus Reviews, 15 July 2022, p. NA. Gale General OneFile, link.gale.com/apps/doc/A709933319/ITOF?u=schlager&sid=bookmark-ITOF&xid=950ec700. Accessed 1 Nov. 2024.
QUOTED: "Lines by Lasky ... balance the feel of wide-open spaces and family comforts."
Kathryn Lasky, illus. by Johnson Yazzie.
Charlesbridge, $18.99 (48p) ISBN 978-1-62354-176-7
Because the tsar is "sending his soldiers to hurt Jewish people," eight-year-old Yossel's family emigrates from Russia to America, traveling by train, boat, and covered wagon to New York City, then past Santa Fe to a town that borders a Navajo reservation. There, they run a trading post left to them by family, which is filled with "barrels of coffee and beans and seed." Yossel learns "English and Navajo words for things like coffee and nails... . But I am afraid to speak." When he meets an Indigenous boy his age, Thomas, they find ways to communicate and share--Yossel's mother offers blintzes, and Thomas "shows me where the ghosts of Navajos live and where rattlesnakes sleep"--and then build a friendship that grows even closer when Yossel makes Thomas's infant sibling laugh for the first time. Lines by Lasky (the Guardians of Ga'Hoole series) balance the feel of wide-open spaces and family comforts ("The smell of sagebrush meets the cinnamon of Mama's honey cake"), while Navajo artist Yazzie's acrylic paintings portray white-outlined characters and saturated landscapes that draw similarities between Russia and the American Southwest. An author's note and further reading conclude but elide discussion of the U.S. government's displacement of Navajo people. Ages 5-9. (Sept.)
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"Yossel's Journey." Publishers Weekly, vol. 269, no. 33, 8 Aug. 2022, p. 60. Gale General OneFile, link.gale.com/apps/doc/A715674331/ITOF?u=schlager&sid=bookmark-ITOF&xid=e722dde2. Accessed 1 Nov. 2024.
QUOTED: "magical, exciting, and deeply moving."
Lasky, Kathryn THE SECRET OF GLENDUNNY Harper/HarperCollins (Children's None) $17.99 3, 14 ISBN: 978-0-06-303106-7
The beaver kits of Glendunny Pond are charged with a dangerous mission.
To avoid extinction, beavers have maintained a secret existence at Glendunny since the reign of Henry VIII and must never be seen by humans, or two-legs. A human sighting of the kit Dunwattle was the impetus for the harrowing life-changing adventures described in the first series entry. Now, even more sinister, terrifying events threaten Glendunny and beyond. Eagles have reported animals captured by two-legs and taken to New Eden, the Dark Place, for evil purposes. The swan Elsinore, who is essential to the community's well-being, may be one of the captives. Beaver kits Dunwattle, Locksley, and Yrynn must search for and, if need be, rescue her. The intricate plot twists and turns and weaves, with the tale told from multiple viewpoints showing the experiences of those imprisoned and those searching as they hatch a daring escape. These varied creatures--beavers, otters, eagles, owls, whales, and more--gain insights, empathy, self-knowledge, and trust as their plan takes shape. There is great kindness, bravery, and compassion as well as unimaginable cruelty, loss, and evil, mostly perpetrated by the two-legs. The heroes are many, but Blekka the octopus is perhaps the most surprising and heartbreaking. Lasky's perfectly constructed fantasy is told in beautifully descriptive, soaring language, with invented words and names feeling just right and an abundance of detailed information about each animal's habitat, attributes, and physiology.
Magical, exciting, and deeply moving. (map) (Animal fantasy. 9-13)
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"Lasky, Kathryn: THE SECRET OF GLENDUNNY." Kirkus Reviews, 1 Apr. 2023, p. NA. Gale General OneFile, link.gale.com/apps/doc/A743460526/ITOF?u=schlager&sid=bookmark-ITOF&xid=d0a8da34. Accessed 1 Nov. 2024.
QUOTED: "draws readers deeply into a mystical world and leaves them wishing for more."
Lasky, Kathryn THE SECRET OF GLENDUNNY Harper/HarperCollins (Children's None) $17.99 3, 15 ISBN: 978-0-06-303101-2
Dunwattle, a young beaver kit, has inadvertently broken the most sacred rule in Glendunny.
During the reign of Henry VIII, all beavers left England to escape being hunted to extinction. They established a thriving civilization in Glendunny, a vast, secret pond hidden in a deep forest in Scotland. To keep Glendunny safe, beavers must never allow themselves to be seen by a two-leg. One morning in the present day, Dunwattle sees the ghostly bones of a two-leg's skeleton. Terrified, he swims all the way to England, where a living human two-leg sees him and takes a photo. Heading home, he's determined to keep his terrible secret. There follows an intricately plotted, wonderfully realized adventure involving all the creatures of the pond and, yes, two-legs, alive and dead, each with strong, distinct personalities and backstories as Dunwattle, along with friends Locksley and Yrynn, helps human ghost siblings Lorna and Fergus find their way to heaven. There is evil, betrayal, cruelty, loss, compassion, kindness, a touch of humor, and heart-stopping adventure. The swan Elsinore is intelligent, pragmatic, and a deeply moral force who keeps watch and intervenes when needed. The carefully constructed fantasy world holds perfectly true, always within the parameters set forth by the author. The invented language has a Scottish flavor, with subtle differences among the species. Further dimension is added by the detailed and beautifully expressed descriptions of place, action, and characters.
Draws readers deeply into a mystical world and leaves them wishing for more. (map) (Animal fantasy. 8-12)
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"Lasky, Kathryn: THE SECRET OF GLENDUNNY." Kirkus Reviews, 15 Jan. 2022, p. NA. Gale General OneFile, link.gale.com/apps/doc/A689340022/ITOF?u=schlager&sid=bookmark-ITOF&xid=fb926a69. Accessed 1 Nov. 2024.
QUOTED: "fanciful and well constructed."
Glass
Kathryn Lasky. Harper Collins, $19.99 (224p)
ISBN 978-0-06-329402-8
Though her family is renowned throughout England for its glassmaking artistry, Bess Wickham craves reality and nature over crystalline perfection, in part due to her affinity for gardening and ability to speak with birds. When she discovers the dark secret behind her family's glass creations, she leaves home to dwell with her animal friends in the woods, where she slowly develops her magical talents. Meanwhile, newly orphaned Estrella, whose recently deceased grandfather worked at the Royal Observatory in Greenwich, is sent to live with her distant cousins the Wickhams, who swiftly corral her into indentured servitude. Their fates drawn together by the Wickhams' cruelty and dark magic, Bess and Estrella's paths soon cross, with Bess acting as Estrella's magical benefactor. While fanciful and well constructed, the climax of this loose reimagining of "Cinderella" by Lasky (The Searchers) feels rushed, lending to uneven momentum and lowered stakes. Nevertheless, Lasky adds texture to the familiar elements and story beats by injecting intriguing new twists, such as the increased focus upon magical glass, as well as by recasting the relationship between Cinderella and her fairy godmother as one between two tweens seeking connection and independence. The protagonists read as white. Ages 8-12. Agent: Brenda Bowen, Book Group. (Aug.)
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"Glass." Publishers Weekly, vol. 271, no. 20, 20 May 2024, p. 67. Gale General OneFile, link.gale.com/apps/doc/A799270712/ITOF?u=schlager&sid=bookmark-ITOF&xid=57dbe58d. Accessed 1 Nov. 2024.
QUOTED: "inventive, with intriguing heroines and despicable villains."
Lasky, Kathryn GLASS Harper/HarperCollins (Children's None) $19.99 8, 20 ISBN: 9780063294028
Cinderella and her fairy godmother both get new stories in this twist on the classic fairy tale.
Fourteen-year-old Bess Wickham lives in a dazzling glass house, surrounded by a rainbow garden of glass flowers. The youngest of three daughters in a glassmaking family, Bess resents the expectation that she'll join them in creating sterile imitations of the natural world. She's delighted, then, when her father agrees to let her grow a garden. As it flourishes, she invites her animal friends to visit and pose for the figurines that her family hopes to create in their images. But when the creatures she loves start disappearing, Bess uncovers a sinister secret and flees into the forest, where she learns to access the ancient magic of the druids, claiming the Celtic title of bandia, or fairy godmother. Meanwhile, the Wickhams take in orphaned third cousin Estrella and manipulate her into servitude. Readers will shiver as the Wickhams find ever more wicked ways to capture life in glass. Soon, clever Estrella, who has a passion for astronomy, seems doomed. As abruptly as a carriage transforming back into a pumpkin at midnight, however, the story ends, with conflicts being resolved, secret identities revealed, and declarations of love unfolding in short order. The overly neat conclusion to a story that initially introduced appealing complexity to a familiar tale is disappointing. Main characters present white.
Inventive, with intriguing heroines and despicable villains, but doesn't quite land the happy ending. (Fantasy. 8-12)
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"Lasky, Kathryn: GLASS." Kirkus Reviews, 15 June 2024, p. NA. Gale General OneFile, link.gale.com/apps/doc/A797463262/ITOF?u=schlager&sid=bookmark-ITOF&xid=424a06c2. Accessed 1 Nov. 2024.
Lasky, Kathryn MORTAL RADIANCE Severn House (Fiction None) $29.99 7, 2 ISBN: 9781448313846
The peace and inspiration sought by Georgia O'Keefe when she traveled to New Mexico in the 1930s is disturbed by a brutal murder.
Georgia has come to stay in Taos with wealthy heiress Mabel Dodge Luhan after having designed the stained-glass panels for the D.H. Lawrence Chapel in San Cristobal. Her design was executed by talented Navajo artist Mateo Chee, whose fiancee, Flora Namingha, made the urn for Lawrence's ashes, which sadly ended up mixed with cement. Mabel's Taos home has long been a haven for an ill-assorted group of people, currently including the infamous narcissist Wallis Simpson, soon to be the Duchess of Windsor. After her husband, Alfred Stieglitz, cheated on her, Georgia was drawn to New Mexico lawman Ryan McCaffrey, with whom she finds balance and repose. When Flora is discovered murdered in the chapel, Mateo is arrested by two dimwitted and often drunk police officers. Since Ryan's away at a conference, the only one who can help clear Mateo is Flora's cousin Jessie Yazzie, a clever 15-year-old forensics expert. Coyote teeth found on the scene point to the Navajo witches called the Skinwalkers, but Georgia is sure that neither Skinwalkers nor Mateo killed Flora. Determined to find the truth, she begins an investigation that leads to a very mixed bag of motives and a Nazi spy ring.
The Land of Enchantment is the perfect backdrop for a murder investigation among historic characters both artistic and evil.
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"Lasky, Kathryn: MORTAL RADIANCE." Kirkus Reviews, 1 June 2024, p. NA. Gale General OneFile, link.gale.com/apps/doc/A795673992/ITOF?u=schlager&sid=bookmark-ITOF&xid=4253e303. Accessed 1 Nov. 2024.
Mortal Radiance.
By Kathryn Lasky.
July 2024. 208p. Severn, $29.99 (9781448313846); e-book
(9781448313853).
At a chapel in Taos in 1935, where the ashes of D. H. Lawrence are about to be interred by his wife, Georgia O'Keeffe finds a body. It's her friend, the talented Navajo potter Flora Namingha, fiancee to the glass artist Mateo Chee, who designed stained-glass windows based on Georgia's artwork for the chapel. Mateo is immediately arrested, but Georgia is certain of his innocence. Meanwhile, Wallis Simpson is at Los Gallos, home of art patron Mabel Dodge Luhan, when she receives a bouquet of carnations and a card written in German. Sheriff Ryan McCaffrey comes to town from Santa Fe, and though he's pleased to see Georgia, that's not the only reason he's there. But he's not telling. Though the investigation into Flora's murder gets somewhat muddled by side plots involving Nazis and mobsters and the FBI, readers will be enchanted by the descriptions of the Southwest landscape seen through Georgia's artistic eye. Fans of historical mysteries that feature real-life people will enjoy this series, which started with Light on Bone (2022). --Susan Maguire
Copyright: COPYRIGHT 2024 American Library Association
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Maguire, Susan. "Mortal Radiance." Booklist, vol. 120, no. 21, July 2024, p. 30. Gale General OneFile, link.gale.com/apps/doc/A804615819/ITOF?u=schlager&sid=bookmark-ITOF&xid=dcbbc36f. Accessed 1 Nov. 2024.